Today, analog television is history. The Missouri Broadcasters Association says an estimated 30 thousand people in the state — or fewer — probably woke up with no TV signal this morning.
Don Hicks, president and CEO of the Missouri Broadcasters Association, says of the estimated 1.5 million viewers in the state who aren’t cable or dish subscribers, less than 2 percent have likely procrastinated in getting digital ready for today’s signal changeover.
Hicks says stations have staffed up today, expecting a final surge of viewers calling with questions, making a mad dash to be digital ready.
Hicks says the equipment needed to get the digital signal will vary according to location.
Those in rural areas may need to buy a souped up antenna and/or a signal booster to get a signal from towers that are far away. Outside antennas will need further tweaking since the digital signal is more precise than the old analog signal. What it comes down to, he says, is that every person will have to experiment to see what works for them, even if they’re just using rabbit ears.
Hicks says out of the 6 million people in the state, 25 percent of them are "over the air." He estimates about 2 percent are still not ready.
A step-by-step guide on getting that old TV digital ready can be found at dtv.gov .