The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Last Thursday, local broadcasters conducted "soft tests" of the nation's switch to digital television signals to remind the 3.3 million unprepared households to get ready for the transition on June 12th.

During the tests, viewers who were receiving analog over-the-air TV signals stopped getting their signals for a few minutes and were told to take action before June 12, the date when all analog signals will switch to digital. Calls to the FCC nearly quadrupled with people asking about the government coupon process, reception issues and problems with installing their converter box, showing that even people who had converter boxes still faced problems getting their TVs to work correctly.

"This soft test did exactly what it was supposed to do," said acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps.  "It was a wake-up call for consumers who are unprepared, alerting them to the fact that they need to take the necessary steps before the June 12 DTV transition."

If you don't yet have a converter box for your analog TV, you can still apply for the government's $40 coupons toward the cost of a converter box by applying online or calling 1-888-388-2009 (voice) or 1-877-530-2634 (TTY).

If you have any spare coupons, send them to LCCREF's national coupon exchange program so that we may get them to people in need.

Make sure your TV sets are DTV ready!