Majority of Americans will be unaffected by 2009 DTV transition.

More than 82% of American adults live in homes with cable TV or a satellite dish and will have uninterrupted access to the digital only TV programming scheduled to begin on February 17, 2009—the last day of fullpower analog TV broadcasting in the U.S., according to the latest data from Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI).

Approximately 18% of adults live in households that don’t subscribe to cable or satellite TV. These 39 million consumers are at risk of losing television transmission unless they purchase a conversion box for their analog TV set, buy a digital TV (a TV with an internal digital tuner) or sign up for cable or satellite service. The U.S. government is offering these “over-the-air-only” households up to two coupons, each worth $40, which can be applied toward the purchase of eligible converter boxes, which typically cost between $50 and $75.

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