There is growing concern in Washington that the switch to Digital will leave millions of Americans without over-the-air TV on February 18, 2009, according to TVPredictions.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) said this week that he has some "broad concerns about how effective this transition will be," in remarks made to the annual American Cable Association Summit.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps expressed similar concern.

On February 17, 2009 over-the-air broadcast of analog TV will cease, and millions of Americans will have to switch to cable or satellite to continue receiving TV on their standard TV sets.

The Federal Government has been planning for some time on how to inform Americans about the transition and provide them with vouchers that will pay for a downconverter box that will allow them to convert HD signals to SD. There are about 21 million Americans still using over-the-air antennas only.

"We are deeply concerned that that amount of money is not sufficient; and that there will be millions of very angry people across the country who will not get a subsidy or, if they do, it will be a small subsidy in comparison to the cost of the digital-to-analog converter box," Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) said.

Some in Congress, concerned about the potential surprise and backlash, have hinted that they may want the date pushed back. "Be assured, that date is not going to change,� Rep. Boucher said.