• by Wayne Friedman , June 17, 2008

Despite concerns over the change to all digital TV season, a new poll from the National Association of Broadcasters says there is almost universal awareness of the change.

In a telephone survey of more than 30,000 TV households in April, 90% of respondents are aware that the TV signals will change from analog transmission to digital on Feb. 17, 2009.

The NAB says these results are up from the 83% awareness found in a study done four months previously, in January.

NAB also said an improved number of TV households correctly named the date of the transition--36% of all respondents and 41% of broadcast-only households. These numbers are up from January 2008.

The NAB has taken up promotions efforts in making viewers aware of the federally mandated transition. A campaign at DTVAnswers.com, the official Web site of the NAB's digital television transition campaign, was launched in January 2007.

The $700 million public service campaign was launched last October. As part of the campaign, the FCC required broadcast stations to air at least four 30-second public service announcements about the transition each day, increasing to as many as 12 per day as the Feb. 17 date nears.

Other recent surveys have noted that many non-digital TV households may either be unaware or unable to make the change to digital from analog.