Consumers who receive over-the-air television signals through antennas on television sets that are equipped with analog tuners – and who do not subscribe to cable, satellite or a telephone company television service provider – will be affected by the transition.
At least 19.6 million households receive over-the-air signals exclusively in their homes, and 14.9 million households have secondary over-the-air television sets in their bedrooms or kitchens.
Consumers who receive free, over-the-air
broadcasting on analog sets will have three
options for continuing their television service:
 | Purchase a DTV converter
box that will convert the digital signal into analog for an existing
television set;
| Purchase a new television set with a
built-in digital tuner; or
| Subscribe to cable, satellite or a
telephone company television service provider if all desired local broadcast
stations are carried by that service. | |
Additionally, while full power TV stations will no longer broadcast in analog after the transition, some low power stations will remain in analog. Watching both analog and digital broadcasting after the transition may require specific equipment -- in some cases a "pass through" converter box that allows both analog and digital signals to reach your tv set. To learn more about low power television and the dtv transition, and to help find out if the stations you watch are low power, click here.