• by Wayne Friedman , February 18, 2008

TV marketers' media plans would have to be adjusted by 10% if the digital conversion would occur today. That's the percentage of U.S. Television households that are not ready for a switch from analog to digital TV signals. The Nielsen Co. says that amounts to 13 million homes.

Nielsen says you can add in another 6 million homes, for a total of 16.1% of U.S. TV households, because those homes have at least one TV set that would no longer work after the conversion.

Demographically, older Americans ages 55 and up are more ready than younger TV viewers. Among viewers age 35 and under, 12.3% are not ready for digital conversion. For viewers 35-54, the percentage is 9.6%. Only 9.4% of viewers 55 and older aren't ready for the digital change to occur next February.

New York City viewers are the best-equipped to handle the change. Just 3.5% have "unready" television sets. The next-best are Hartford and New Haven, CT; Boston, MA; West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Tampa-St. Petersburg; Atlanta, GA; Ft. Myers-Naples, FL; Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, VA; and New Orleans, LA.

Portland, OR is the worst--22.4% of all its households are still using analog sets and over-the-air television signals. Other poorer-faring markets include Houston, TX, Salt Lake City, UT and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN.

Nielsen said whites and Asians are more ready than blacks. It also noted that more Hispanic households still rely on analog, over-the-air broadcast television than non-Hispanics.