Hawaii Preps For Tomorrow's Switch

Hawaii broadcasters shut off analog signals tomorrow at noon, and the local Star Bulletin says some viewers will lose out. 

The paper reports:

Ten communities on the Big Island and Maui may lose over-the-air television with the DTV conversion at noon tomorrow, when Hawaii’s full-power TV stations turn off their analog signals in favor of all-digital broadcasting.

That is, even if viewers have properly hooked up analog-to-digital converter boxes.

Many more communities around the state are likely to receive only one or two stations after the government-mandated change. Hawaii is the first in the nation to make a statewide switch.

The AP reports some 20,000 Hawaii households still get their TV over the air.

“We’re desperately asking people to set up their converter boxes early so they don’t all call us Thursday,” said Mike Rosenberg, president and general manager of KITV, Honolulu’s ABC affiliate. “Hopefully, we will not be inundated with calls, but we’re prepared.”