Univision 41 in NYC holds Digital TV Transition Forum.

With the federally mandated switch to digital television less than a year away (February 17, 2009 is “D” Day), Univision Communications’ New York stations, including WXTV-Univision 41, the New York area’s premier Spanish-language TV station, and TeleFutura outlets, WFUT Channel 68 and WFTY Channel 67 (a repeater at Smithtown, Long Island), are helping viewers prepare for the change with a two-hour public forum to be held Saturday, June 21, 11 am to 1 pm at Public School 24, at 427 38th Street in Brooklyn. “Una Nueva Era: Television Digital” (A New Era: Digital Television) is both the first public forum about digital television to be held here in the New York area and the first such forum to be held in Spanish. “Una Nueva Era,” which features experts from the National Association of Broadcasters, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Consumers Union, will be recorded and will be shown on WXTV two weeks later, on Saturday, July 5, at 11 am. The forum is open to the public on a first come, first served basis.

Minority viewers are expected to be more vulnerable to interruption in their TV service due to a lower level of cable and satellite usage than their non-minority counterparts. Viewers who use an antenna will need either a digital TV or an analog-to-digital converter box. Those who get TV via cable or satellite will not be affected by the change. According to the latest figures from Nielsen, 83.5% of New York TV households have cable. Among Hispanics, however, that figure drops to 76.8%. Nielsen estimates that there are about 1.2 million Hispanic TV households in the New York area and that that 3.8% of New York area households have only analog television sets. Nationally, according to Nielsen, 17.3% of Hispanic households receive their TV signals over the air and would be unable to get digital TV without converter boxes or digital television sets.

Moderators of “Una Nueva Era” will be “Noticias Univision 41” (Univision 41 News) weather forecaster Nilda Rosario and Angel Villagomez, a reporter for TeleFutura’s entertainment news program, “Escándalo TV” (11 am to 2 pm weekdays on WFUT and WFTY).

Panelists will be Jennifer Elena of the National Association of Broadcasters, Keyla Hernández of the FCC, Elena Chávez of Consumers Union, and New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortíz of the 51st Assembly District.