Digital TV Transition Date Moved To June 12th
As it stands, the four major over-the-air networks -- FOX, ABC, NBC and CBS -- have announced their intentions to hold off on killing analog signals until the new June date. By doing so, they will hopefully help to avoid a completely confusing order of events which would see some stations going all-digital later this month and others waiting until a few months later. We told you this stuff was confusing, now didn't we?
Even if those who waited too long to snag a converter box do decide to get their act together and head out to select a unit, we're hearing that stores may not have enough to satisfy demand. How so? Intelligent supply chain managers at firms that manufactured these digital-to-analog converters began to slow or stop production last month as they expected demand to peek in February and fall off sharply in the months after. Now that Americans have another four months to buy one, many outfits are scrambling to restart lines and get shipments flowing once more. The Consumer Electronics Association has estimated that only three to six million boxes remain at retailers, and if the actual figure is closer to three million, you can see just how problematic this could become.