With Monday marking 100 days until the nationwide switch to all-digital broadcasting is complete, broadcasters and the government are taking the opportunity to remind viewers the change is coming.

"It's free and available right now to anybody in the country with an antenna, so there's no need to wait," said David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.

Rehr made his comments at a National Association of Broadcasters press conference Monday at the Newseum in Washington D.C. to bring attention to the switch.

Digital television -- DTV -- is a new type of broadcasting. Because DTV is delivered digitally, the signal is virtually free of interference. It is more efficient than analog, giving improved pictures and sound while leaving room for other services such as weather information, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

DTV will replace the current analog broadcasting system on Feb. 17, 2009.

Get Ready For Change

While all new televisions sold after March 1, 2007, include digital tuners and will be ready for the digital switch, those with older analog televisions will either have to be connected to a cable or satellite service or buy a digital converter box to receive the television signals they currently receive.

And that's the message the NAB is working with the FCC and other agencies to spread to the public: prepare and transition now, ahead of the changeover.

"It's going to be an exciting time for America and I can tell you as a broadcaster, I'm certainly looking forward to the change," said David Gregory, NBC News' chief White House correspondent, during Monday's press briefing.

Gregory said millions risk losing television reception due to the change and the NAB is working to ensure a lack of communication does not contribute to any problems with the switch.

The National Association of Broadcasters' effort includes a Web site on the change as well as a road show that will have visited 600 events in 200 markets nationwide by the transition day.

A recent NAB survey showed that 93 percent of respondents were aware of the switch and that half of those surveyed have taken one of the three options. However, Rehr said it's unavoidable that some people will be making the change very late.

Local stations are stepping up education efforts and many stations are also conducting soft tests of the digital system, he said. Pennsylvania will become the first state to conduct a statewide soft test Nov. 17.

Lessons From Wilmington

And Wilmington, N.C., became the first city to complete the switch on Sept. 8, shedding light on the complications that can be expected in February.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said one of the Wilmington lessons has been that consumers should try out the converter boxes well ahead of the transition. He said that the experience has also driven home that no agency can do the transition on its own.

Joe Uva, chief executive officer of Univision Communications Inc., the premier Spanish-language media company in the United States, said the soft tests and the effort in Wilmington have shown that the number of people who will need to get satellite or cable or buy a converter box to be ready for the change has been underestimated by 40 to 50 percent.

For consumers choosing the converter box option, the TV Converter Box Coupon Program permits all households to request up to two $40 coupons toward the purchase of certified converter boxes. U.S. households can apply on a first-come-first-serve basis online at www.DTV2009.gov or by calling 1-888-DTV-2009.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said 18 million people have requested the coupons so far and more than 30 million have been sent out. Of those, about 14 million have been redeemed, he said.

"It's a new, exciting future, but we don't want anybody to be left behind," Gutierrez said.

No matter what efforts are taken, there will be people who won't get the message, said Mark Lloyd, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The goal is to reduce that number to as low as possible, he said.

Lloyd called the access to broadcasting a civil right that is important because it can provide people with life-saving information in the event of an emergency.

"The idea of being able to have free access to that is very important," he said. "Let me make it clear, on the morning of Feb. 17, there will be millions of Americans who wake up and won't have access to that service."