Although the BPU does not regulate over the air, broadcast television services, we are providing the following information as a service to New Jersey's ratepayers.

The Digital Television, or DTV, transition is a change mandated by the United States Congress that requires full-power broadcast TV stations to switch from an analog to digital format on or before June 12, 2009.  Congress recently passed, and President Obama has signed, legislation that officially changed the date of the broadcast digital transition from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009.

The broadcast digital transition affects those who watch free, over the air, television via a rooftop antenna or “rabbit ears” on an older analog television.

If you receive your television signal through a roof-top or “rabbit ears” antenna and/or have an older analog television set, you have three options to choose from to continue watching broadcast television after the transition:

1)  Purchase an over the air digital-to-analog converter box in order to watch broadcast TV after June 12, 2009, (you may be able to obtain a US government discount coupon)*

2)  Buy a new television with a built in digital tuner, or

3)  Subscribe to cable TV or  satellite TV

*Households which do not have a subscription service (as described above in option 3) on every TV in their home are eligible to receive two, $40 coupons free from the US Commerce Department toward the purchase of the over the air digital-to-analog  converters. The boxes retail for around $60 at consumer electronic stores.

If a consumer already gets good analog reception on an existing antenna, there may be no need for an antenna in addition to the box. Even if current reception is good, make sure your antenna has both VHF and UHF receiving capabilities.  While an outdoor antenna may be necessary in some locations, indoor antennas work better for digital in many instances.  The best of the indoor antennas run about $70 at consumer electronics stores.

Coupons for converter boxes that expired can now be renewed.  Please visit https://www.dtv2009.gov for more information.

If you already subscribe to cable, you do not need to worry about the broadcast digital transition.  For cable subscribers, the transition will be seamless because cable companies will automatically convert the signals from full-power broadcast TV stations to the analog format that your television understands.