Consumers confused -- and often wrong -- about digital TV transition

Much of what consumers are learning about the looming shift to digital broadcasting is just plain wrong and could end up costing them money, according to a survey.

Some people think they need to buy new equipment when they don't, according to a Consumers Union survey, and others say they don't plan on taking any steps to deal with the change when they should.

"Confusion about the digital television transition will cost consumers a lot of money for equipment they may not want or need," Joel Kelsey, policy analyst for the Consumers Union, said Wednesday.

Starting February 18, 2009, full-power television stations in the U.S. will turn off their old-technology analog signals and broadcast only in a digital format, potentially leaving millions of televisions displaying nothing but snow.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/01/31/digital.tv.ap/index.html