Homes Unprepared for DTV Down to 3.4% of U.S., Nielsen Says

By Andrew Krukowski

The number of households unprepared for the digital transition has declined slightly since the beginning of March, Nielsen Media Research reported today.

Improving by about 350,000 homes since March 1, the percentage of homes completely unprepared for the digital transition stands at 3.4% as of March 15.

For TVWeek's comprehensive coverage of the digital television transition, visit the DTV Switch Navigator page.

Nielsen said 4.1 million homes are still completely unprepared.

The segment of the population showing the largest improvement was households headed by someone under 35. The levels shrank from 7.2% at the beginning of March to 6.5%.

African Americans are the minority demographic of the population least prepared for the digital transition, according to Nielsen, with 6.6% of African American households completely unprepared as of March 15. That’s down just 0.1% from March 1.

An additional 158 stations will make the digital switch before the revised DTV deadline of June 12, joining 637 stations that have already switched.

The rest of the nation’s stations, 56% of stations and mainly located in major markets, will make the switch on the official deadline of June 12.