CHCI Congressional Interns, Broadcasters Educate Local Hispanic Community about the Digital Television (DTV) Transition

July 28, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC — Last weekend, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), a non-profit created to develop the next generation of Latino leaders, hosted two community events to educate consumers about the February 17, 2009 transition to digital television (DTV).

Local broadcasters from Univision, including on-air personality, Mario Sol, and general manager, Rudy Guernica, worked with CHCI interns to educate local Hispanic community members on Saturday and Sunday. DC Councilman David Catania also attended the weekend's events.

"We are very pleased about our partnership with CHCI for DTV education within the local Hispanic community," said Jonathan Collegio, Vice President of the DTV Transition for NAB. "It is vital that we reach out to all communities, especially those who are disproportionately affected by the February 2009 switch to DTV."

Saturday's event at the Mary's Center included a DTV Exposition and a DTVPal converter box raffle, courtesy of DishLatino. On Sunday, the community event was hosted by Sacred Heart Church in Columbia Heights.

DTV converter box coupon applications were made available to attendees with the broadcasters and students assisting local residents in completing the applications. The events were part of a community service project conducted by the 2008 class of CHCI Congressional Interns.

"This DTV community service project serves as the culminating experience for our Congressional Interns," said Esther Aguilera, president and CEO of CHCI. "From this experience, our interns can take the message about DTV back to their 31 districts and continue spreading the word and preparing local constituents in their areas."

According to a Knowledge Networks/SRI Home Technology Monitor survey, 22 percent of Hispanic TV households are broadcast-only compared with 13.4 percent of all TV households. Hispanic households are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanic to be broadcast-only. NAB's latest consumer awareness survey showed a significant increase in DTV awareness among Hispanic consumers:

By law, every full-power television station must begin broadcasting only in digital on February 17, 2009. Over-the-air viewers will need to upgrade their TV sets to DTV by either purchasing a converter box or digital TV set, or subscribing to a pay service, such as cable or satellite.