Just when Utahns thought the transition to digital television couldn't get more perplexing, it has.

Utah's commercial television stations said late Friday they will maintain analog signals until June 12, even though they said two days ago they would shut the signals down on Feb. 17. Now just one of nine Utah stations -- CW affiliate KUCW Channel 30 -- will transition to a digital-only signal on Feb. 17.

"My concern is this adds further confusion to an already confusing situation," said Dale Zabriskie, president of the Utah Broadcasters Association, which represents the state's television stations. "As an association of stations, we had hoped it had not come to this -- conflicting announcements two or three days apart. But we have no control over it."

On Wednesday, all of Utah's TV stations --- except for KUED Channel 7, KBYU Channel 11 and KUEN Channel 9 -- agreed to make the transition to all-digital on Feb. 17, even though Congress passed new legislation pushing the deadline to June 12 to provide more time for consumers confused about the transition.

The UBA issued a news release that day announcing the stations' decision, arguing it is too costly for stations to run both an analog and digital signal simultaneously. But KTVX Channel 4, the local ABC affiliate owned by Kansas City-based Newport Television, changed its mind and announced Friday it would wait until June 12 to shut down its analog signal. During a conference call with all of the Utah stations Friday, the rest of the broadcasters -- except one -- agreed to follow suit.

"We're wanting to go together as a unit," Zabriskie said. "There may have been some concern about one station having both the analog and digital signals while the others only had digital."

Oddly, the one station that is sticking to the original Feb. 17 -- KUCW -- is also owned by Newport.

KTVX general manager Matt Janquint said Newport decided to wait until June 12 to shut down the analog signal because it realized too many people were still unprepared for the switch. KTVX is a news and information station that must be available to as many homes as possible, he said, while KUCW is not. It's more costly for KUCW to operate both an analog and digital signal than it is for KTVX, Janquint said. "People want news, and we are a public service," he said.

People can convert by subscribing to cable or satellite television, buying a new digital-ready TV set or purchasing a digital converter box to hook up to an older television. The deadline extension approved by Congress also was meant to accommodate more than 2.5 million people on a waiting list for a $40 discount coupon off the price of a converter box. The government plans to divert an additional $650 million to the coupon program to ensure those on the waiting list will receive a voucher. More than 12,000 Utah households are on the waiting list. The state is the 10th-least prepared for the digital transition in terms of how many households have analog-only televisions, according to Nielsen Media Research.