NAB Launches Summer Ad Campaign on Digital Television in Nation's Capital

June 30, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC — Residents and visitors to the nation's capital this summer are getting an eyeful of messages about the upcoming switch to digital television (DTV).

Ads highlighting the DTV transition deadline have been placed in 15 Metrobus shelters located in high-traffic areas around downtown Washington, D.C., as part of the National Association of Broadcasters' (NAB) multifaceted campaign to educate Americans about the biggest change in television broadcasting since color TV was introduced.

The bus shelters are scattered throughout popular neighborhoods, including Capitol Hill, Union Station, Eastern Market, Federal Triangle, Farragut Square and near the White House. The ads will run until early August.

Additionally, NAB has supplied 2,000 receipts noting its informational DTV Web site, www.DTVAnswers.com, to the Yellow Cab Company of D.C., the city's largest taxicab fleet, so drivers can hand them to passengers.

The District of Columbia has one of the country's highest percentages of over-the-air households. More than 20 percent of residents in the District of Columbia rely exclusively on free broadcast television. To receive digital broadcasts, these households will need to upgrade their TV sets by February 17, 2009, when all full-power stations are required to begin broadcasting only in digital format.

Images of the taxi receipt and bus shelter ads are available for download.