Wilmington, N.C., to test TV change

Residents of Wilmington, N.C., will soon become laboratory rats in the nation's transition to digital TV.

The Federal Communications Commission plans to make the greater Wilmington area a digital-TV test market to work out any bugs before the entire nation goes all digital on Feb.17.

All four commercial broadcasters in the Wilmington region -- with a population of about 400,000 -- have agreed to turn off their analog signals and broadcast in digital only starting Sept.8. The switch will be preceded by an intensive consumer-education campaign, including TV and radio ads.

"This will help us understand what we need to do to prepare the rest of the country," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin says.

The biggest concern is the roughly 60 million analog sets that aren't hooked to cable or satellite. Those include about 18 million homes that don't have pay TV as well as second ...