Read the Full Report: Digital Television Transition: Majority of Broadcasters Are Prepared for the DTV Transition, but Some Technical and Coordination Issues Remain (GAO-08-510)

Background

The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 requires all full-power television stations in the United States to cease analog broadcasting by February 17, 2009. Prior to the transition date, broadcasters must take a series of steps to begin transmitting a digital signal. To determine broadcasters’ readiness for the transition date, we conducted a Web-based survey of full-power licensed broadcasters. We surveyed 1,682 broadcasters from the Federal Communications Commission’s database of full-power broadcasters of which 66.7 percent responded. This e-supplement lists questions and results from the survey.

Some survey questions were not applicable to all respondents. As such, the survey results are presented based on the number or respondents for a given question and do not represent overall percentages for all survey respondents.

A more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology is contained in our report “Digital Television Transition: Majority of Broadcasters Are Prepared for the DTV Transition, but Some Technical and Coordination Issues Remain.” GAO-08-510 (Washington, D.C.: April 30, 2008). We administered the survey from December 2007 through February 2008 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Instructions for Viewing this Survey

How to View The Surveys

  • Click on the Table of Contents link located in the lower right of this screen. To read to the bottom of the screen, you may need to use your scroll bar on the right side of this screen.
  • The first screen in the survey is an introduction and general information that was sent to and viewed by recipients of the survey. There are no survey results to view on this screen. This screen is for information only and you may by-pass it by clicking on Next located at the bottom of the screen in the lower right.
  • The survey may have links to allow respondents to bypass inapplicable questions (skip patterns). While these were active links during the data collection period, they have now been disabled.
  • When a respondent wrote a narrative response to a question, we sometimes present the percent of respondents making a comment.

How to View the Responses for Each Question

  • To view the responses to each question, click on the question number (Links to survey questions will look like this: 1., etc.).
  • After viewing the responses to each question, click on the "x" in the upper right corner of your screen to close that window and return to the questionnaire.

How to Return to a Page That You Previously Visited

  • To return to the last screen you viewed, click the Previous button on the lower right corner of the screen.
  • Click the Next button to advance to the next screen.

How to Make the Font Larger on Your Screen

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Contact Information?

  • If you have questions concerning these data, please contact Mark Goldstein at (202)512-2834 or Goldsteinm@gao.gov.
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