DTV Switch Delay Approved By Senate

[T-Bone]

Figures... Quite honestly, I think they've had PLENTY of time to prepare for this switch...


DTV Switch Delay Approved By Senate


The move pushes the deadline to June 12, giving federal agencies more time to prepare the public for the move from analog to digital television broadcasting.


Postponement of the nationwide transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting was virtually assured after the U.S. Senate Monday unanimously approved delaying the switch until June 12. With President Obama and the House of Representatives already signaling their approval of the delay, the measure should be settled this week.
The switch, originally scheduled to occur on Feb. 17, will affect several million Americans who still receive television broadcasts over old analog sets, typically through the use of rabbit ear or rooftop antennas. The Neilson rating company has estimated that at least 6 million Americans won't be able to get digital broadcasts with converter boxes. Some Americans -- there are no accurate estimates of how many -- won't be able to receive analog or digital reception after the switch. To get reception, they will have to buy satellite or convert to digital cable.


"This is a big step toward ensuring that consumers can adequately prepare for the DTV transition," Sen. Amy Klobucher, D-Minn., said in an e-mail. "Delay allows federal agencies to adequately prepare." She said the current capacities of federal call centers can handle only 350,000 daily calls from consumers of the 1.5 million who are expected to call in the days immediately following the switchover. The campaign to delay the switch was spearheaded by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Klobucher in the Senate.
The FCC has already auctioned the old analog spectrum for nearly $20 billion, most of it going to AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Government officials decided the 700-MHz spectrum could be vacated, because most consumers had moved to cable and satellite reception and weren't using the spectrum anyway. A portion of the 700-MHz band was set aside for use by public safety agencies, but there were no serious bids for that section of the spectrum. FCC officials have said they want to schedule another auction to sell spectrum that can be used for public safety purposes.

Sen. Klobucher, who said 21% of Minnesotans still use analog broadcasts, noted that the analog spectrum serves an important public safety role. "Consumers who do not successfully make the transition," she said, "will lose access to the Emergency Alert System and Amber Alert messages."

The federal program to assist consumers in making the move from analog to digital broadcasting ran out of money recently, interfering with the flow of coupons consumers can use to purchase converters that will enable their old analog sets to receive digital broadcasts.

[bluejeangirl76]

unanimously approved delaying the switch until June 12.

Yay!! That gives me more time to get a digital TV!!
I refuse to jack around with those dumb converter boxes.
Last thing I need is more b.s. to hook up.

[Don]

I think this had a lot to do with trailer park residents who weren't ready to become hard wired to cable.

[Arkansas]

unanimously approved delaying the switch until June 12.

... That gives me more time to get a digital TV!! ...

Uhm, that's probably part of the whole deal, imo. The date extension probably has less to do with converter boxes, and more to do with creating time for Washington to push out a new stimulus package so people would have the cash to buy more new tvs. This indirectly helps prop-up the electronics industry & many retail outlets.


later~

[StevePerryHair]

The way I understood it, you don't need a new tv or a converter box if you have basic cable. Isn't it just people with the big antennas on their houses who have to worry about this change?

[Abitaman]

The way I understood it, you don't need a new tv or a converter box if you have basic cable. Isn't it just people with the big antennas on their houses who have to worry about this change?

That is how I understand it too.

[bluejeangirl76]

The way I understood it, you don't need a new tv or a converter box if you have basic cable. Isn't it just people with the big antennas on their houses who have to worry about this change?

By now the cable companies have all made their switch and replaced the customers' cable boxes with the digital ones, so yes, its those who don't have cable or satellite that have to either get converters or digital TVs.

[Don]

I just don't see people, who have not been paying for cable, rushing out and buying a big screen TV just because of this. They will probably get those free or discounted converter boxes that have been pimped by PBS and other local stations.

[Eric]

Been delayed for 8 effin years. Ridiculous

[jrnyfan@nc.rr.com]

Yeah, I mean we really have known this was happening for a decade. And you had to have been living under a rock to not see all the PSAs the last 6 months. Be done with it.

[bluejeangirl76]

And you had to have been living under a rock to not see all the PSAs the last 6 months. Be done with it.

Not to mention all the stupid "tests". WGN here in Chicago had the worst one... it was Bozo the Clown (because the show originated here, on WGN). A Bozo the Clown public service announcement, can you imagine? "Hi, its Bozo the Clown! If you can see me right now, your TV is not ready for the digital switch..."

[JustMyStyle]

Ok... I'm one of the very few people that don't have cable ( I get alot of razzin from my friends). Actually the cable company
pissed me off 16 years ago when I purchased my home, so basically I told them what
they could do.....
I got one of those converter early last year and it's great. It was easy to install
and I get more stations and better reception.

[ScarabGator]

more obama bullshit.

[JrnyScarab]

Ok... I'm one of the very few people that don't have cable

There just might be a lot more like you if the economy keeps tanking. Bring on those rabbit ears! OOPS! They don't work anymore!

[G.I.Jim]

It's the government's responsibility to give EVERYONE out there a $200 voucher to help pay for a converter box. Why should individuals be held responsible for providing the means to their own entertainment? Damn...what's next.... we have to pay for our own food and education too?

[indigo]

Ok... I'm one of the very few people that don't have cable ( I get alot of razzin from my friends). Actually the cable company
pissed me off 16 years ago when I purchased my home, so basically I told them what
they could do.....
I got one of those converter early last year and it's great. It was easy to install
and I get more stations and better reception.

You are not the only one. We don't pay for listening to the radio, do we? Got the converter box, but disappointed in the reception. No new channels, voice is not as good, picture is not as good, and it fades in and out on occasion. Seems like a step backward to me.

[conversationpc]

This whole thing is ridiculous. If people are going to bitch about buying one of these converters then they probably shouldn't even have a TV to begin with.

[Rick]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090128/ ... /tec_digit

WASHINGTON - Bucking the Obama administration, House Republicans on Wednesday defeated a bill to delay the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — leaving an estimated 6.5 million U.S. households unprepared for the switchover.

The 258-168 vote failed to clear the two-thirds threshold needed for passage in a victory for GOP members, who warn that postponing the transition from the current Feb. 17 deadline would confuse consumers.

House Republicans say a delay also would burden wireless companies and public safety agencies waiting for the spectrum that will be freed up by the switch, and create added costs for television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals for four more months.

The defeat is a setback for President Barack Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who maintain that the Bush administration bungled efforts to ensure that all consumers — particularly poor, rural and low-income Americans — will be ready for next month's analog shut-off.

The Obama administration had no immediate comment on the House vote and the next step remains unclear.

The Nielsen Co. estimates more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals still are not prepared for the transition. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected.

Yet Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Commerce Committee, insisted a postponement is not necessary.

"We could do nothing worse than to delay this transition date," Barton said. "The bill is a solution looking for a problem that exists mostly in the mind of the Obama administration."

Barton led the push to scuttle the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously on Monday night after lawmakers in that chamber struck a bipartisan compromise. Senate Democrats won over Republican support by allowing broadcast stations to make the switch from analog to digital signals sooner than the June deadline if they choose and permitting public safety agencies to take over vacant spectrum promised to them as soon as it becomes available.

But those concessions did not placate most Republicans in the House. Only 22 Republicans voted for the bill, while 155 voted against it. Among House Democrats, 236 voted for the bill and just 13 voted against it.

Congress in 2005 required broadcasters to switch from analog to digital signals, which are more efficient, to free up valuable chunks of wireless spectrum to be used for commercial services and interoperable emergency-response networks.

But the Obama administration called for the transition date to be postponed after the Commerce Department earlier this month hit a $1.34 billion funding limit for coupons to subsidize digital TV converter boxes for consumers. The coupon program allows consumers to request up to two $40 vouchers per household to help pay for the boxes, which translate digital signals back into analog ones for older TVs. The boxes generally cost between $40 and $80 each and can be purchased without a coupon.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department administering the program, is now sending out new coupons only as older, unredeemed ones reach a 90-day expiration date and free up more money. The NTIA had nearly 2.6 million coupon requests on a waiting list last week and those people will not receive their coupons before Feb. 17.

Barton, for one, is pushing legislation to fix the coupon program without delaying next month's transition.

Yet Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., author of the bill to postpone the switchover, said a delay is the only way to ensure that millions of Americans don't see their television screens go dark next month.

"The outgoing Bush administration grossly mismanaged the digital television transition and consumers are confused, households are not prepared, and the coupon program for converter boxes is broken," Rockefeller said in a statement after the House vote.

Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal policy at the Consumers Union, which has been lobbying for a delay, said he hopes House Democrats will bring the bill up again for a regular floor vote, which would only require majority support to pass. Wednesday's vote took place under a special procedure that required two-thirds support for passage.

[Rhiannon]

This whole thing is ridiculous. If people are going to bitch about buying one of these converters then they probably shouldn't even have a TV to begin with.

But without the TVs who would be there to raise their children?