The 1998 United States digital television switchover is currently scheduled to occur just under eight months from now, at 12:00 Midnight on February 1, 1998. With high-definition (HD) digital and satellite television rapidly growing in use and popularity, in late 1994, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) set a date for all primary analog television signals to cease within three years, and the date was initially set for December 1, 1997, but under protest from a significant percentage of the United States' more rural population, the switchover date was pushed back two months - to February 1, 1998, and the switchover was made mandatory for primary channels only. The more localized and rural stations will continue to broadcast analog signals through June 2005 at the latest, by which point all remaining analog channels will be mandated to switch to high-def digital or satellite signals.
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