• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 1, 2009

Nielsen figures released Wednesday suggest that all but a few U.S. homes will have full digital TV reception by the first week in August. That's an indication that any disruptions caused by the digital-TV switchover should largely be eased within two months of the June 12 transition.

Nielsen reported that 2.1 million American homes, or 1.8%, were without reception as of the week ending June 21. That's down 400,000 since the transition week.

If that rate continues, all homes should be receiving digital signals by early August.

Perhaps because so many people consume video via the Web, the figures show that 4% of homes with residents under 35 are still without reception, compared with less than 1% for those over 55.

The 1.8% total U.S. unpreparedness figure is down from 6.8% in December 2008 and from 4.4% in February, when the switchover was originally scheduled to take place.