Feb. 17, 2009, will mark a change in TV broadcast history.

It will be the last day TV stations will broadcast an analog signal.

On Feb. 18, 2009, every viewer who receives a signal from an antenna or rabbit ears will have to have a TV with a digital tuner or a digital-to-analog converter box.

Larry Rennels, owner of Rennels TV and Appliance, said all his TVs in stock contain a digital tuner.

All new TVs were required to have a digital tuner installed beginning March 1, 2007. VCRs, DVRs and any other electronic that receives a television signal also has to contain a digital tuner. Stores were allowed to sell their remaining stock that did not have digital tuners. People with cable or satellite will not be affected by the change because they receive channels from another provider.

“Around here, the vast majority have one or the other,” Rennels said.

Few people in town will be affected by the change, but more outside of town might because cable service is not provided, he said.

While it will affect a significant number of households, Rennels said it is not a major change.

“I’ve seen reports where they say TVs will go black and that (viewers) need to get a new TV,” he said. “That’s not true for the majority of people.”

For people without cable or satellite, there are options.

Rennels said people have the choice of purchasing a converter box, which allows the older TV to use the digital signal.

The boxes tend to be priced at $40 or up, depending on the features the converter has, he said.

The federal government is making the transition for people easier by offering two $40 coupons to purchase a converter per household.

“We’ll be carrying converters, and we signed up to accept the coupons,” Rennels said.

Todd Sedmak, communication director for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said more than 4 million households have requested 7.7 million coupons.

“Our consumer campaign is to inform people, so they know their options and make a decision on how to switch,” he said.

When it comes to the effect on the university, there will not be many changes.

Students living in university housing will not be affected by the change, said Mark Hudson, director of Housing and Dining Services.

“When we negotiated our current cable TV contract last year, we included the responsibility of any expense for the conversion would fall on our provider,” he said.

A possible adjustment may be made at where the cable comes onto campus, Hudson added.

WEIU-TV will also not be affected, as it launched a digital broadcast in 2006.

Click here or call 888-DTV-2009 to apply for the TV Converter Box Coupon Program.

Matt Hopf can be reached at 581-7945 or at mthopf@eiu.edu.

Televisions without digital cable will be able to be equipped with converters, enabling people to still see their programming on their older television. (Photo Illustration Bryce Peake/Daily Eastern News)

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