Digital Delay a Relief to TV Networks

The big broadcast television networks, already suffering from terrible ratings, will catch a break if the planned transition to digital signals is put off until June when the TV season has basically ended. With warmer weather and more reruns, fewer people are watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in June than in February. There's also the expectation that more homes will be ready to receive the digital signals by then. The digital transition would have been another blow for networks still trying to recover from the effects of last year's writers strike. Viewership is down at disturbing rates: 11 percent for ABC, 12 percent for NBC and 14 percent for Fox. Only CBS, with its strong dramas and new hit "The Mentalist," is up over last year (1 percent). A Feb. 17 switch would have only worsened those numbers. An estimated 13 percent of viewers for the English-language broadcast networks get analog signals, Nielsen said. Many who are making the digital switch are doing it by ordering cable and satellite - giving them many more networks to watch as an alternative to ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.