About 9 million households are likely to buy high- definition TV ...

the DTV transition. The study, “HDTV Consumer Awareness Update,” was conducted by CEA’s for-profit research arm, eBrain. “More than half of all survey respondents said they view the HDTV transition as a positive. This supports our projections that millions more consumers will purchase an HDTV in the near future,” CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro said. However, he said the survey also revealed a degree of consumer confusion about the transition, the technology and HDTV reception requirements. The survey, based on a random sample of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, found that they were somewhat confused about the products needed to view HDTV. For instance, 74% didn’t know they often needed a set- top box to watch HDTV shows and 78% didn’t know they needed an HDTV-enabled recorder to record them. The research found 54% weren’t aware they couldn’t watch all TV shows in the HD format because many programs were not yet broadcast in HDTV. Shapiro urged all industries with a stake in the transition to increase efforts toward educating consumers and “delivering what consumers want out of this transition. According to our survey, they want digital cable-ready HDTV and they want movies and sports programming.” The survey found 54% of respondents wanted the ability to plug their cable line directly into an HDTV, saying they would be more likely to buy an HDTV set if that were the case. The research also found that 38% would be most interested in or excited about HDTV movies, followed by 21% for sports coverage. Shapiro urged broadcasters to provide “compelling programming,” something broadcasters say they already are doing. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.