2.8 Million Homes Unready for Transition to Digital TV as June 12 Deadline Approaches

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
In its final update before the June 12, 2009 deadline for converting all
full-powered U.S. television stations to digital transmission, The Nielsen
Company reported that 2.8 million American households, or 2.5% of the television
market, are completely unready for the transition. Younger, African American and
Hispanic homes are disproportionately unready, while the elderly are the most
ready.

"Since February, when the U.S. government postponed the transition for three
months, the number of households that are completely unready has been cut in
half - from 5.8 million to 2.8 million homes," said Sara Erichson, President
Media Client Services, The Nielsen Company. "Given the importance that
television plays in the day-to-day life of most people, we expect that the most
of the remaining unready homes will take the necessary steps to get ready once
the stations make the final switch to digital transmission. We will continue to
follow this trend closely."

Percentage of Completely Unready Homes as of Sunday, June 7, 2009

Percent of Homes Overall White African- Hispanic Asian Under Over Age

Unready as of:
American
Age 35
55
June 7, 2009 2.5 1.9 5.1 4.3 3.1 4.6 1.3
May 24, 2009 2.7 2.1 5.4 4.7 3.2 5 1.5
May 10, 2009 2.9 2.3 5.7 4.9 3.4 5.4 1.6
April 26, 2009 3.1 2.4 5.9 5 4.1 5.7 1.7
April 12, 2009 3.2 2.5 5.9 5.4 4.3 5.9 1.7
March 29, 2009 3.4 2.7 6.2 5.6 4.4 6.3 1.8
March 15, 2009 3.6 2.9 6.6 6.1 4.4 6.5 2
March 1, 2009 3.9 3.2 6.7 6.5 4.5 7.2 2.2
February 15, 2009 4.4 3.6 7.5 7.4 5.1 8.1 2.6
February 1, 2009 5.1 4.1 8.7 8.5 6.3 8.6 3.2

Readiness in Local Markets

Among the 56 local markets that Nielsen measures with electronic meters, the one
that is least ready is Albuquerque-Santa Fe, with 7.6% of the households
completely unready. Television homes in Providence-New Bedford, where area
television stations previously made the transition to digital, are 100% ready.
The markets with the most unready households tend to be in the Western United
States, where cable penetration is lower. The most prepared markets are in the
Eastern U.S.

# of % of

Completely
Completely

Unready
Unready

Homes
Homes
National Sample 2,805,250 2.45
ALBUQUERQUE-SANTA FE 52,235 7.58
DALLAS-FT. WORTH 145,414 5.84
SACRAMNTO-STKTON-MODESTO 64,238 4.59
SEATTLE-TACOMA 82,809 4.55
AUSTIN 29,978 4.49
LOS ANGELES 252,180 4.46
PHOENIX (PRESCOTT) 77,207 4.16
TULSA 21,923 4.14
GREENVLL-SPART-ASHEVLL-AND 32,949 3.84
HOUSTON 78,772 3.74
PORTLAND, OR 43,361 3.69
CLEVELAND-AKRON (CANTON) 55,965 3.67
MEMPHIS 23,919 3.55
SALT LAKE CITY 29,512 3.21
SAN ANTONIO 25,948 3.17
INDIANAPOLIS 34,787 3.12
SAN DIEGO 33,174 3.11
MIAMI-FT. LAUDERDALE 43,468 2.81
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL 45,859 2.65
DETROIT 50,101 2.60
LOUISVILLE 17,148 2.57
WASHINGTON, DC (HAGRSTWN) 59,665 2.57
DAYTON 12,143 2.51
WEST PALM BEACH-FT. PIERCE 18,862 2.42
SAN FRANCISCO-OAK-SAN JOSE 59,682 2.41
RICHMOND-PETERSBURG 12,986 2.36
KNOXVILLE 12,328 2.25
LAS VEGAS 16,171 2.22
BIRMINGHAM (ANN AND TUSC) 16,127 2.18
CHICAGO 76,144 2.18
CINCINNATI 19,685 2.15
COLUMBUS, OH 19,350 2.09
NORFOLK-PORTSMTH-NEWPT NWS 14,648 2.04
ST. LOUIS 24,871 1.99
BUFFALO 12,244 1.94
NEW ORLEANS 11,693 1.94
JACKSONVILLE 13,025 1.93
NASHVILLE 19,208 1.89
PHILADELPHIA 55,169 1.87
CHARLOTTE 20,324 1.81
KANSAS CITY 16,790 1.79
DENVER 25,454 1.67
TAMPA-ST. PETE (SARASOTA) 28,243 1.55
RALEIGH-DURHAM (FAYETVLLE) 16,210 1.50
ORLANDO-DAYTONA BCH-MELBRN 21,263 1.45
NEW YORK 96,640 1.30
MILWAUKEE 10,774 1.19
GREENSBORO-H.POINT-W.SALEM 7,947 1.16
BOSTON (MANCHESTER) 27,704 1.15
ATLANTA 25,831 1.09
FT. MYERS-NAPLES 4,993 0.98
HARTFORD & NEW HAVEN 9,947 0.98
PITTSBURGH 10,061 0.87
BALTIMORE 8,045 0.73
OKLAHOMA CITY 3,368 0.49
PROVIDENCE-NEW BEDFORD 0 0.00

Under government-mandated action, all full-powered television stations are
required to switch to digital programming by June 12, 2009, which could leave
viewers without a television signal unless they purchase digital television
sets, connect to cable, satellite, and alternate delivery systems or purchase a
converter box.

Nielsen is making these estimates available as a public service to the
television industry, government policy-makers and local communities. This
information is based on the same national and local television ratings samples
that are used to generate national and local television ratings. To conduct the
survey, Nielsen representatives observed and tabulated the actual televisions
used in its samples. Because Nielsen has developed samples that reflect the
total U.S. population including African American and Hispanic populations, these
household characteristics in the samples can be projected to the whole country.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading
market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other
media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and
business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately
held company is active in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New
York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.

The Nielsen Company
Gary Holmes, 646-654-8975
Karen Gyimesi, 646-654-8631
Alana Johnson, 646-654-8391

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