Skip to Main Content

Say Goodbye to Analog Broadcasts: Your Last Minute Guide


Feet have been dragged and dates have been changed, but the death knell is finally ringing for analog television. If you've dragged your feet too, check out the crash course inside. Photo by FutureAtlas.

Many stations will be cutting their analog broadcasts in the early morning, right around the time you're reading this. By the end of the day every station will be require to cease broadcasting in analog. Lifehacker readers are a technologically literate bunch and hopefully you've spread a little love and know how around by helping your friends and family. If you've been asleep at the wheel, don't panic. If you get your television fix from cable, satellite, or less conventionally via streaming video, then you have nothing to worry about.

If you, a friend, or relative are still getting television by a set or rooftop antenna however on an older television set they'll need to converter box to convert the digital signal to a analog one. The following list will help you decide if you need to take action:

  • You receive your television via the cable company ⇨ Do nothing.

  • You receive your television via a satellite provider ⇨ Do nothing.

  • You receive your television over the airwaves ⇨

  • Check the documentation that came with your television or the manufacturer's website to see if your television has an ATSC tuner built in. All televisions manufactered after March 1, 2007 are required to have one.

  • If you do not have a television with a built in ATSC tuner, you will need to purchase a converter box.

  • You don't own a television ⇨ You're going to need to find something to arrange all your living room furniture around in its place.

There is one specific circumstance where you'll want to shop carefully for a converter box. If your television is one of the manufactured between roughly 2002 and 2006 that were marketed as "HDTV Ready" you'll want to take special care in buying a converter box. The HDTV ready televisions are capable of displaying HD signals but have no ASTC tuner built in. If you buy a regular converter box you'll end up with a regular 480 signal on your HD capable television. You need to buy an actual ASTC tuner box if you want to see 720 and 1080 signals on your HDTV ready set. It isn't the most common situation but if you're in it, there is no sense paying $40 for a converter box when you could get an actual ASTC tuner for a little more money and enjoy higher quality television.

If you find that the antenna you've been using for your analog television isn't cutting it—although most people find it works just fine, my parents pick up great signals with their old-school attic antenna—make sure to check out AntennaWeb to learn more about antennas and how to get the most from your existing one. Alternately you could build your own antenna based on the excellent Gray-Hoverman Antenna. Even if you're not going to build your own you can't go wrong looking for a commercial one similar to the antenna they build in the aforementioned DIY tutorial.

Finally, you can still apply for a converter box coupon but you definitely won't have it in time for the rollover today.

Ready for the rollover? Been ready since 1983 when you first got cable? Don't even own a television? Sound off in the comments below.