Will you still be able to watch television next year?

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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As you all know, a massive transition will take place a year from now when, on Feb. 18, 2009, television broadcasting will move to the digital format. That will impact millions of U.S. households across the country that currently receive their television signal over the air, the analog system.

This revealing story and accompanying tables show that the Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson market ranks in the top 20 of markets with television sets unprepared for this digital conversion.

The government is working on a plan to help people make the transition, but this story shows just how much work is left to be done. Yikes.

Ranking of Local Markets Based on Percentage of TV Sets Currently Unprepared for Digital Conversion

MARKET % of Over the Air Only
1 New York, NY 3.5
2 Hartford & New Haven, CT 5.8
3 Boston, Ma (Manchester, NH) 6.0
4 West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL 6.1
5 Philadelphia, PA 6.6
6 Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), FL 6.7
7 Atlanta, GA 7.2
8 Ft. Myers-Naples, FL 7.4
9 Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, VA 8.3
10 New Orleans, LA 8.4
11 Birmingham (Anniston And Tuscaloosa), AL 8.7
11 Pittsburgh, PA 8.7
13 San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA 8.8
14 Charlotte, NC 9.0
15 Washington, DC (Hagerstown, MD) 9.1
16 Knoxville, TN 10.1
17 Buffalo, NY 10.3
17 Seattle-Tacoma, WA 10.3
19 Detroit, MI 10.5
19 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC-Asheville,
NC-Anderson, SC 10.5
21 Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, FL 10.7