NEWS Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D. C. 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: February 18, 2009 Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253 Email: mark.wigfield@fcc.gov Edie Herman, 202-418-2035 Email: edie.herman@fcc.gov DTV Call Centers Field Over 28,000 Calls Tuesday Volume Expected to Increase Today Washington, D.C. – Call volume to the Federal Communications Commission’s consumer help line for the digital television transition (1-888-CALLFCC) totaled 28,315 Tuesday. However, since most of the 421 television stations nationwide that terminated their analog signals Tuesday did not do so until midnight, the Tuesday calls could not reflect the impact of those stations going dark. Call volume was 37 percent higher than Monday, when the total was 20,673. Preliminary results for today indicated an increase in calls of approximately 5 percent. From midnight until 11 a.m., the call center received 6,750 calls, well within the capacity of the call center. Over the past 36 hours, calls to the line have been answered almost immediately. About 220 stations made the transition before Tuesday, for a total of 641 stations having made the transition by the end of Tuesday, or 36% of the full-power stations nationwide. Stations making the transition before Tuesday included those in the Wilmington, N.C. market, which made the transition on September 8, 2008, and Hawaii, which made the transition on January 15. Many of the calls were from consumers who were unaware that they should run the “scan” function on their digital televisions or converter boxes in order to get reception from a station that changed its digital channel after the transition. Call center agents were trained to walk consumers through the process. Information about scanning and other answers to transition questions can be found at www.dtv.gov. Date Call Volume Friday, Feb. 13 11,819 Saturday, Feb. 14 8,178 Sunday, Feb. 15 7,324 Monday, Feb. 16 20,673 Tuesday, Feb. 17 28,315 -FCC- News about the Federal Communications Commission can also be found on the Commission’s web site www.fcc.gov.