Seniors may get mixed signals

WASHINGTON — Elderly people may be the most vulnerable to losing television reception when the nation's broadcasters go digital in less than 18 months, members of Congress and advocates for seniors say.

A study in July showed that a disproportionate number of people who rely on "over-the-air” signals through an antenna are senior citizens. And without a coordinated national campaign to educate people about the digital transition, set for Feb. 17, 2009, millions of elderly people could be cut off from television.

"We all need to do a lot more outreach to prepare our seniors,” Jonathan Adelstein, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, told a Senate panel last week.

Adelstein said if a massive public education campaign isn't launched quickly and uninformed people lose television reception, "we're going to have one of the biggest outrages this country has ever seen. It will be a very difficult day in the history of American broadcasting if we don't turn this around.”

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