FCC Call Center Gets 55,000 Calls

Copps: Soft test was "wake-up call for consumers who are unprepared"

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/22/2009 12:41:40 PM

The FCC says it recorded a single-day record of 55,000 calls to its DTV transition call center help line (1-888-CALLFCC) May 12 during the coordinated analog cut-off soft test.

Stations in more than 125 markets participated, including the networks' owned stations.

Chicago had the highest volume of calls at 1,310, followed by New York with 1,277 and Dallas Fort-Worth at 764.

"This soft test did exactly what it was supposed to do," said Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps in announcing the totals. "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."

That 55,000 is out of a population of 3.3 million households that Nielsen estimated as of May 10 relied on over-the-air analog signals.