May 21
If you turn on your TV today and get static where your favorite shows used to be don’t panic…right away.
On that day television stations will be turning off their analog signals as part of a nation-wide “soft test” of the upcoming transition to digital television. Signals will go down for anytime between two and five minutes in the morning, a few minutes after noon, and around 6:30pm.
Over-the-air viewers need to pay attention to this test. If they loose their signal they will need to either buy a TV with a built-in digital tuner or purchase a converter box and attach it to their current set.
The long-awaited switch to digital, which was postponed in February is set to happen in about 3 weeks, on June 12th.