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Volunteer Houston and Comcast team up to ready residents for digital TV
  
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By VAL CLIFTON
Houston continues to rank as the largest market to be unprepared for the February conversion to digital television, but two entities are hoping to change that.
Comcast, in partnership with Volunteer Houston, has launched an effort that they anticipate will assist more than 2,000 homes by March. And with recent Nielsen studies showing 15.8 percent of households in Houston unprepared, their plan is to ease the transition with a DTV installation project.
“As a community partner, we’ve teamed up with Volunteer Houston to go out and help some of these senior citizens who may not otherwise have the ability to apply for a DTV coupon or get in their car and drive down to a retail center to purchase a digital over-the-air converters,” said Comcast spokesperson Michael Bybee.
A team of Comcast technicians recently held the first in a series of hands-on training sessions, scheduled to run through March, where volunteers learned how to install over-the-air digital converter boxes.
Crews of technicians and volunteers then visited the homes of 93 seniors throughout Houston to install the digital converter boxes for free.
“This is a great opportunity to have our cable technicians, who are experts on the installation side, get out and provide hands on training to volunteers who can get out into the community and really make a difference to people,” Bybee said.
Many of the people they’ve assisted depend on their television for much of their communications from the outside world, he said.
“Once we hook up the digital converter, not only do you get additional channels, but the clarity is unbelievable,” Bybee said. “Some of the people have literally broken down in tears because they are just so happy and it’s so neat to be a part of that.”
Feb. 17, 2009 has been set as the deadline for the digital transition by the U.S. Congress. After that, all major local television broadcasters will broadcast in a digital-only format. This means that millions of analog TV sets will no longer display broadcast TV signals unless they are connected to cable, another video service, or to an over-the-air digital converter box.
For more information about the digital transition, visit www.DTV.gov.
Want to help?
Volunteer Houston is still looking for volunteers to help with the project, particularly people who speak Spanish or Vietnamese. For more information, or to sign up as a volunteer, visit www.volunteerhouston.org or call 713-964-0211.
Comcast, in partnership with Volunteer Houston, has launched an effort that they anticipate will assist more than 2,000 homes by March. And with recent Nielsen studies showing 15.8 percent of households in Houston unprepared, their plan is to ease the transition with a DTV installation project.
“As a community partner, we’ve teamed up with Volunteer Houston to go out and help some of these senior citizens who may not otherwise have the ability to apply for a DTV coupon or get in their car and drive down to a retail center to purchase a digital over-the-air converters,” said Comcast spokesperson Michael Bybee.
A team of Comcast technicians recently held the first in a series of hands-on training sessions, scheduled to run through March, where volunteers learned how to install over-the-air digital converter boxes.
Crews of technicians and volunteers then visited the homes of 93 seniors throughout Houston to install the digital converter boxes for free.
“This is a great opportunity to have our cable technicians, who are experts on the installation side, get out and provide hands on training to volunteers who can get out into the community and really make a difference to people,” Bybee said.
Many of the people they’ve assisted depend on their television for much of their communications from the outside world, he said.
“Once we hook up the digital converter, not only do you get additional channels, but the clarity is unbelievable,” Bybee said. “Some of the people have literally broken down in tears because they are just so happy and it’s so neat to be a part of that.”
Feb. 17, 2009 has been set as the deadline for the digital transition by the U.S. Congress. After that, all major local television broadcasters will broadcast in a digital-only format. This means that millions of analog TV sets will no longer display broadcast TV signals unless they are connected to cable, another video service, or to an over-the-air digital converter box.
For more information about the digital transition, visit www.DTV.gov.
Want to help?
Volunteer Houston is still looking for volunteers to help with the project, particularly people who speak Spanish or Vietnamese. For more information, or to sign up as a volunteer, visit www.volunteerhouston.org or call 713-964-0211.
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