According to Nielsen Media Research, those who still have analog-only TV signals are now at 7.4% of U.S. TV homes, or 8.5 million households. This is a slight improvement over the 8.8 million that were unprepared in October, which represented 7.7% of all TV households.
Back in May, 9.8% of all TV homes were analog and only 11.9% of TV homes were partially ready--homes in which at least one TV set gets digital signals. Partially ready TV homes have now improved to 10.3%.
Non-Hispanic households continue to be more ready than their Hispanic TV counterparts. Analog-only Hispanic TV households are at 12.4% in November--unchanged versus the 12.4% number in October. This current number has only improved two percentage points from May, when it was at 14.4%.
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During that time, non-Hispanic homes have made more rapid progress, now at a 6.7% number in November--down from a 7.1% in October, and a 9.2% number in May.
Breaking down the numbers demographically, Nielsen says TV homes in which the heads of the household are adults under 35 years old are the most unprepared--at 10.6% of all TV homes. Adults 55 and older are the best-prepared; in that category, only 5.9% of those TV households are unready for the digital changeover. Those who are 35-54 heads of households are 7% unprepared for the digital changeover.
The official change to all digital signals will occur Feb. 17, 2009.
| % of U.S. Households that are Completely Unready | % of U.S. Households that are Partially Unready |
May 2008 | 9.8% | 11.9% |
June 2008 | 9.6% | 11.8% |
July 2008 | 9.3% | 11.6% |
August 2008 | 8.9% | 11.4% |
September 2008 | 8.4% | 11.0% |
October 2008 | 7.7% | 10.7% |
November 2008 | 7.4% | 10.3% |
Source: Nielsen Media Research