FCC: 681 Stations to Honor Feb. 17 DTV Deadline

The FCC says about 40 percent of stations will honor the Feb. 17 DTV deadline.

The FCC says 491 stations want to make the switch on Feb. 17. Another 190 stations have already switched or will do so on original deadline.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), about 40 percent (681 out of 1,800) of TV stations will honor the original Feb. 17 DTV deadline.

The FCC released a list of 491 stations (pdf) that want to make the transition on Feb. 17. Another 190 stations have already switched or will do so on Feb. 17, the FCC reports.

Congress passed a bill to prolong the DTV transition nearly four months to June 12. President Barack Obama, however, has yet to sign the bill into law.

“We’ll try to work with broadcasters to make this as seamless as possible for everybody, but we do need to protect consumers, and part of that is to make sure that there is some analog signal in each market,” says FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell.

The FCC gave broadcasters a deadline of midnight Monday (Feb. 9) to decide when they want to make the switch. According to Broadcasting & Cable, many broadcasters expect to hear from the FCC by Feb. 13.