The U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin announced on Tuesday at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas that they are on schedule with next year’s deadline, when they announced the switch to digital TV. According to Martin, the February 17, 2009 deadline is a hard one to meet, but FCC will not postpone the date, as that would dis-incentivize the industry to make the required transition: “After all of our efforts we couldn’t just turn around and say ‘We’re just kidding’ “ Martin said.

Starting February 17, 2009, all broadcasters are to be submitted to the DTV transition - that is all broadcasts will pass from analog to digital transmission. Subsequently, consumers will not be able to receive broadcasts unless they own digital televisions or purchase the converter box designed for the analog TVs.

“I think industry has announced some aggressive plans for consumer education. But I think we all could be doing more,” Martin said. Critics have accused him of not raising awareness sooner, as it is only recently that the advertising campaigns were made public. But Martin disagreed: “I think that in general you don’t want to be putting too much of an emphasis on that too early.”

50 percent of the U.S. homes already have digital TVs, and according to Gary Saphiro, the Consumer Electronics Association president, 28 million more are expected to be sold this year alone. The phenomenon is only natural considering the better quality of the transmission and the fact that the 700MHz spectrum will improve some essential wireless communications, such as those of fire or police departments.

Martin also mentioned he encouraged the cable TV companies to offer the consumers the possibility to choose from a wider range of options. According to the FCC president, it is important to enable the consumers to pick the tier of programs on their own, together with offering them better pricing program.