CEA launches DTV transition contest on YouTube |

The Consumer Electronics Association recently launched a contest on YouTube to reward consumers who help friends and family transition to digital television (DTV). The Digital TV: Convert Now! contest encourages the YouTube community to help family and friends prepare for February 17, 2009, when all full-power TV stations in the U.S. will transition to digital.

Gary Shapiro, CEA’s president and CEO, announced the contest today during CEA’s Industry Forum, a four-day conference designed to inform and connect leaders in the CE industry. The contest will run until December 10, 2008.

Entrants can post eligible videos, no longer than three minutes long, at www.youtube.com/dtvtransition. These videos should demonstrate ways to get family and friends ready for the digital TV transition. Videos will be judged on originality and creativity, aesthetic appeal and the relationship of the content to the contest theme, “Digital TV: Convert Now!” One grand prize winner will receive a home entertainment center including a flat screen high-definition TV, a Blu-ray disc player and a surround sound audio system. The grand prize-winning entry will be announced on December 10, 2008.

This campaign augments diverse government and industry consumer outreach campaigns already underway and is designed to remind viewers who rely on an antenna and an analog TV set for reception that they have three choices before February 17, 2009:

Buy a new TV with built-in digital tuner;
Purchase an affordable digital TV converter box to receive over-the-air digital TV signals and convert them for analog TV viewing or;
Subscribe to a pay TV service like cable or satellite.

To learn more about the contest or how to transition to digital television, visit www.youtube.com/dtvtransition.