Congress’ move to delay the transition to digital television has caused mixed reactions at Des Moines stations, with at least two saying they intend to turn off their analog signals on Feb. 17 and another two planning to delay until June 12.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign a measure that will postpone the switch to digital to June 12 from Feb. 17 after the House of Representatives passed the bill yesterday, Bloomberg reported. The Senate had approved the measure earlier. The delay comes after the government program to help people prepare for the switch and provide vouchers to subsidize the purchase of digital converter boxes ran out of funding. A Nielsen Co. report last month stated that more than 6.5 million homes are still not prepared to receive digital signals.

According to a letter from the Federal Communications Commission, 479 out of 1,796 major stations nationwide already have terminated or still plan to terminate their analog service by Feb. 17.

Locally, KDSM and WHO-TV plan to move forward with the switch by Feb. 17.

WHO Chief Engineer Brad Olk said his station is still waiting to see whether it will be allowed to move its digital channel to 13 from 19 before deciding whether it will turn off its analog signal in February, but WHO would like to move forward as planned. Keeping an analog signal costs the station $9,000 a month in electricity, he said.

“We’re frustrated,” Olk said. “We’ve been running notices for quite some time. … But that being said, we know there are still viewers out there that don’t have the capability yet. I get calls every day.”

Mike Wilson, general manager of KDSM, said his station will make the switch in February. “We felt as a company that it would cause less confusion to do what we’ve been telling people 16 times every day,” he said. Also he noted that the percentage of people not prepared for the switch is relatively small.

Meanwhile, KCCI and Iowa Public Television plan to delay the switch until June even though they were ready for the February deadline, because some people continue to have problems not only in hooking up digital converter boxes, but also with adjusting antennas.

Iowa Public Television spokeswoman Jennifer Konfrst said keeping its analog signal costs the station about $30,000 a month, but “we’re of course cutting in other ways and we really feel like it’s an important thing.

“We want to make sure as many Iowans as possible are ready for the transition.”