About six million people in the U.S. who have digital receivers may still lose some of their TV signals when digital-only broadcasts begin next February, according to one new study. Data compiled by
Centris, a Los Angeles-based research firm, shows that gaps in broadcast signals could leave as many as 5.9 million TV sets unable to receive as many channels as they did before the changeover. And it
may even affect viewers who bought government-approved converter boxes or new TVs.
Still, to keep broadcast reception, many may have to buy new outdoor antennas, the study finds. The
federal government currently estimates that 21 million American households have primary TV sets that receive only over-the-air signals. While most of them will get the new digital signals by means of
converter boxes, Centris says it has a more detailed method of predicting the coverage pattern of TV signals than Uncle Sam.
And problems with reception could be far worse than
predicted, notes a study of the first HDTV station by Oded Bendov, a consultant hired to replace the broadcast antennas on the Empire State Building: "For the people with rabbit-ear antennas, at least
50 percent won't get the channels they were getting," he says.
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