Holding Off On The Big Switch

At HTC, we have more than 50 years of experience in providing the best, most reliable communications products available. These products include: cable television service; wireless cell phone service; Internet service; home security monitoring; and home phone service. And we're ready for the "Big Switch."

In case you haven't heard, the "Big Switch" from analog to digital for television stations in the U.S. has been postponed until June 12, 2009.

After a U.S. House of Representatives vote of 264-158 and the sign-off by President Obama, the switch has been postponed amid growing concerns that many Americans would not have been ready by the February 17, 2009 deadline, which was set by Congress in 2006. Again with just four months until the "Big Switch," there is no need to panic, especially if you're already an HTC Digital Cable customer.

Being an HTC Digital Cable customer, you're prepared for the switch and have nothing to worry about due to having HTC Digital Cable in your home, regardless of whether you have an older analog set or a new digital television.

However, if you're reading this and are not an HTC Digital Cable subscriber and are watching television via over-the-air signal with an antenna, you will be affected. To make sure you are prepared, you have a few options. The easiest and most convenient option would be to subscribe to HTC Digital Cable so that we can take care of all the necessary preparation for you. If subscribing to cable is not a viable option, you can also continue to receive your signal with an over-the-air antenna, but you might have to make a few adjustments.

Keep in mind that if your TV is labeled "digital ready," this doesn't mean you are ready. It means you will need to buy a digital-to-analog converter box, which costs anywhere from $50 to $75. There's a $40 coupon here to help offset this cost from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, but please be mindful that there may not be enough money to provide enough coupons for everyone. If you plan to buy a converter, get yours ASAP from your favorite electronics retailer.

In addition, keep in mind that on March 6 we'll also be launching www.netracer.net , which will be the new site to which sccoast.net and htcnetracer.com users will be redirected. As a note, the old domains will continue to stay live, so there's no need to reset your bookmarks.

We encourage you to check out the beta version for yourself at http://online.htcnetracer.net/ and let me know if you have any feedback by leaving comments below.

Best,

Tom