Cable operators could say there wasn't room for niche channels with the addition of bandwidth-clogging analog signals.
That's also when viewers in the biggest TV markets will be affected, including markets more dependent on over-the-air, analog signals.
Bigger problems are expected in June when the rest of the nation's TV stations turn off their analog signals for good.
They translate analog signals that move through a cable or over the air into digital bits, which form the binary code that's comprehensible to a computer.
Millions of cable customers have only the most basic service, sometimes with boxes that receive only traditional analog signals, which take up far more bandwidth than digital signals.
Under the Federal Communications Commission's requirement, cable operators must either switch to all-digital systems, or carry both the digital and analog signals of local stations in the first three years after the February 2009 conversion.
Since then there has been a rush to bring on more partners and raise more funds to perfect the technically tricky art of pairing a digital signal with the existing analog signals while meeting strict FCC requirements.
But there is still a chance that the impact of digital conversion may be weakened: Some cable operators are arguing that they should be able to keep supplying their customers with analog signals which would allow them to keep watching without an upgrade.
But another poll, this one by the nonprofit Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, found that three-quarters of the people it surveyed were wrong about what they have to do to get ready by the time analog signals go off the air on Feb. 17, 2009.
Many Chinese can already catch analog television signals on some handheld devices.
Beginning in February, televisions will switch from analog to digital signals.
The PSoC 3 device in the iMSO-104 seamlessly manages the two-way communication between the oscilloscope and any iOS device via Apple's proprietary dock connector, and also processes the incoming analog and digital signals.
ENGADGET: Oscium's iMSO-104 turns iPad, iPhone into mixed signal oscilloscopes
Some cable programmers argued that the FCC's order would make it harder for them to gain access to cable systems if both analog and digital signals of local stations had to be offered.
Finally, we have the 52-inch and 62-inch 1280 x 720p LCDs, the WD-52531 and WD-62531, which claim 20 percent more brightness than last year's models, along with dual HDMI ports and Push720p tech to take care of analog and 1080i signals.
It boasts a 5 MHz bandwidth and up to 12 MSPS (megasamples per second) sample rate, while simultaneously analyzing up to one analog and four digital signals.
ENGADGET: Oscium's iMSO-104 turns iPad, iPhone into mixed signal oscilloscopes
The headsets contain a sensor that detects various mental states, and a chip converts the signals from analog format to digital so they can travel wirelessly to a computer.
Tucked away in the "Deficit Reduction Act of 2005" Bush signed this month is a provision requiring television broadcasters to switch their signals from analog to digital by Feb. 19, 2009.
Within five years, says Jeff Jury , Ibiquity vice president, analog AM and FM radio signals will go digital, and carry data over the air as well as traditonal audio signals.
Whether connected to a current Denon receiver or other product, audio and video signals are sent via analog audio output and S-Video to the respective inputs on a connected device in order to view the GUI and hear the audio.
ENGADGET: Denon outs 2009 line of Blu-ray players, AV receivers and headphones
Consider the two strong entrants in analog semiconductors, the devices that monitor and amplify signals: Linear Technology ( LLTC, 31) and Maxim Integrated Products ( MXIM, 27).
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