Digital TV transition postponement all but certain

by Darren Murph posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 10:59PM

We're actually having a hard time believing this ourselves, but word on the street has it that the Senate is "on the verge of passing a bill that would delay until June the date when TV stations must broadcast in all-digital format." Without Congressional action, all TV stations will switch off their analog signals on February 17th -- a date that has been blasted out to the general populace for years now. The issue is that millions of Americans are currently on a waiting list for one of those $40 vouchers, and evidently it'll take a few more months to get additional funding and clear the backlog. It's expected that the new switchover date will soon become June 12th, and you can find all the fine print just down there in the read link.

[Via TVWeek, thanks Vanbrothers]

Filed under: Industry, Regulatory, OTA

Tags: 2009, barack obama, BarackObama, congress, delaY, digital tv, digital tv transition, DigitalTv, DigitalTvTransition, DTV, DTV transition, DtvTransition, legal, obama, senate

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

TVGenius @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:08PM

Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

Rep. Joe Barton from Texas put it best: "There are going to be some senior citizens and some disabled Americans that perhaps don't realize it," he said, "but you are to have that no matter what.... If you are 99% ready to go you don't delay because of the 1% who either is not focused on it or are perhaps so incapacitated that regardless of when you do it they won't be able to comply."

Lowest Ranked

Pip @ Jan 23rd 2009 3:03PM

It is far larger than 1%. I would imagine close to 20% or more.

The problem is, no one knows about this. Our local news stations went around doing surveys and most people have no idea what they were talking about. Shelters for women with kids have no way of even affording $40 for a box at this point in our economy. I had to give my two coupons to my aunt and uncle two weeks ago when they first heard about this.

They will not go forward with this, it will effect far more people than they realize. The day may come where they switch over, but the backlash is going to be so great, that they will be forced to turn it all back.

They will find out real fast that people are simply too broke to make this conversion go through.

Highly Ranked

TVGenius @ Jan 23rd 2009 7:57PM

Guess what, there are bigger priorities than TV in this world. People, can, in fact, live without television. I know it may be scary. And to build on your example, if said shelter finds it necessary to have a TV, surely they can afford a whole $50 to get a converter. If not, then I'm sure there are plenty of other sources of entertainment that would be much more useful and educational.

Highest Ranked

Shadowguitar @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:26AM

If people haven't got the message by now, they don't deserve to get it. They've had months to either get the converter boxes or a new TV. They didn't, and that's their own fault. Delaying the date won't change the fact that those people aren't going to switch unless they are forced. People know EXACTLY what is going to happen on Feb. 17, and this date should NOT BE CHANGED.

Highest Ranked

Kilroy @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:40AM

Thats because Obama SUCKS !

Low Ranked

Big John @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:07AM

You're a moron. Obama has NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. Quit commenting on blogs and actually participate in your democracy. Make an attempt to actually understand how your government operates on a day-to-day basis before you just spout off trolling horseshit.

Neutral

European @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:39AM

Kilroy, I agree fully.

Highly Ranked

Ordeith @ Jan 23rd 2009 2:53AM

John:?

Obama has been pushing for a delay since before he took the oath of office. This has his DNA all over it.

Neutral

DVD4ME @ Jan 23rd 2009 8:12AM

Give him a break, would you rather have the world's number 1 looser Bush back in power, for FK's sake some people are just morons.

Highest Ranked

kevin @ Jan 23rd 2009 10:34AM

@DVD4BRAINS - funny how you can call someone else a moron, and yet you can't spell the word "loser" right...

Highest Ranked

Mikw @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:58AM

I understand the desire for the government to delay the transition as it would allow more people to get ready. But whether you switch it off in Feb 17th or June 12th, there WILL be a freak-out period. Despite all the warnings that have been displayed on ALL commercial breaks and sometime affiliates have been chiming a graphic in the lower-third of the screen, there will be a large group of people who won't be ready. They aren't ready now, they won't be on Feb 17th, and they won't be on June 12th. This group will only buy the needed converter box or get a new HDTV when the switch actually occurs.

This delay will only tell the procrastinating populous this, "We were going to switch to digital in June of 2006 which had been on the books since 1998, sorry we have to delay 'til Feb 2009 to allow for HDTV prices to equalize. We were going to switch to digital on Feb 2009, but psyche. We weren't serious about it. We're switching it off on June 12th 2009 though, for real this time. We swear. ;)"

It's like a band-aid that's been on for too long, just rip it off already. It'll be painful at first, but in the long run it's better for you.

Highest Ranked

Jeff N. @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:22AM

So if we delay the transition till June instead of 6.5 million homes not ready for DTV, there will be 5.5 Million homes not ready. Whoopee! Some people will always wait till the last second or wait for it to be a problem before they do anything about it. And all the TV stations who have spent all this time getting ready for the Feb date will now have to reschedule everything.

Highly Ranked

Billy @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:51AM

Why delay the transition,most people know about it, and most people have cable or the Dish, beside to much is made about this to begin with,who still uses a rabbit ears with a snowly picture,it's so out dated anyway, it's not like everyone is on this analog system any more if so than a digital transition would be a much bigger thing to switch to, why would anyone want to stay with the old analog anyway

Neutral

Eric D-J @ Jan 23rd 2009 2:26AM

Your fault for waiting until funding ran out. Its not free for everyone. Some people can afford them and should pay. Enough people got them for free.

Highest Ranked

Martin Greenberg @ Jan 23rd 2009 3:20AM

Well, I got the coupons last year literally minutes after they were first available. It's a bit of a catch-22 though; the people who are so lazy that they haven't gotten the coupons yet are the same ones lazy enough to spend all their time watching analog television.

Highest Ranked

Thinker @ Jan 23rd 2009 6:23AM

Joe Barton: Don't blame my mother. She's 86 years old. She got her two coupons last year without prompting from the family. She called me to help her get her "boxes" as she called them. I went to Best Buy. When they charged me tax on the government subsidized $80 coupons I bitched loudly. They eventually were caught by the State of Florida and refunded this. I installed her "boxes" and she loves the new digital picture with additional channels.

Seniors and disabled Americans are just as savy as anyone. Categorizing one group or another simply to place blame is lazy thinking and should be challenged.

Highly Ranked

Thunderdome @ Jan 23rd 2009 9:05AM

I think it's wrong to categorize the elderly and the disabled as being the ones who aren't ready. We all know damn well who isn't ready. There are 2 types of people that aren't ready. There are the dirt poor types who just can't afford a box and then there are the people who are just lazy as diahrea and can't be bothered to go out and get a converter. I feel for the poor people out there that can't afford a box, but lets call it what it is. Everyone had every oppurtunity to get a box. I recall a post on here or gizmodo just a few months ago(maybe october?) stating that a very small portion of the vouchered had been claimed. Suddenly we're out of vouchers? Sounds like a bunch of last-minute types scrambling to do what they shoulda done months ago. And why delay? Why not just approve more cash and get on with the switch? It's still almost a month away. Whats a few million when we're ready to dish out a cold trillion in a stimulus package?

With that said...it's just TV. It'd be a completely different story if we were talking about health care or other matters of great importance. Digital TV matters to us tech nerds, but in the big scheme of things, it ranks near the bottom on the list of importance.

Neutral

gas @ Feb 1st 2009 12:37PM

I back Kilroy, Obama does suck.

Highest Ranked

T-bone @ Jan 23rd 2009 9:11AM

Jeez...you would think we were cutting of their electricity. You know that there are people in the US that have no TV by choice.

There are weather radios for emergencies, plain old radios for news (you know AM band does still broadcast) and the internet...please.

Neutral

Scoop @ Jan 23rd 2009 9:21AM

Couldn't the tv stations just go ahead with the transition anyway? The original date was just the last day that they HAD to switch over, not that they couldn't and time before that.

Neutral

kevin @ Jan 23rd 2009 10:36AM

Yes, they could - and you'd know that if you actually bothered to read the article they linked to.

" Hutchison said she changed the bill so that the June 12 date will be "an option, not a mandate" for broadcasters.

"If the broadcaster has invested in the equipment, they can go ahead after Feb. 17 so the they don't have to do both, because that could be very expensive, " Hutchison said."

Highly Ranked

Alejandro @ Jan 23rd 2009 11:45AM

I can't believe after all these years of promising the transition that the Gov wants to change their mind?

That's not fair to the American people, please Keep the DTV Date as is

1.There are lots of education for this Transition

2.As much as 93 percent of American's are ready for DTV!

3.More Television choices for America if the Date stays as Feb 17th, Also that a Fund-Only bill would be a breather for American's and the Govt so everyone can move on with there lives.

Highest Ranked

calc.exe @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:13PM

Keep the cutoff date.

Provide television shelters where analog refugees can view digital broadcasts.

Manufacture shelters out of recycled telephone booths, add a digital tv, and drop them on every block.

Setup a shuttle dispatch hotline to transport chronic couch potatoes to the shelters.

Neutral

Alex @ Jan 23rd 2009 4:33PM

the problem isn't the idiots that are clueless, it is the idiots that requested several coupons and either lost them or didn't really need them. I guess the Gov't putting a short expiration window was idiotic too.

Regardless, if someone still watches TV with an antenna and doesn't know about this, what the hell have they been watching?

Neutral

Bill @ Jan 23rd 2009 5:37PM

bunch of obama haters in here I see. But weren't we going to roll DTV transition originally in 2007 originally? (please correct me if I'm wrong, because I can't remember fully the exact time for that transition) so essentially, back then, this has nothing to do with Obama at all. But rather, a bush FCC team that postpone initially. So hate Obama if you want, but shouldn't you guys be "fair and balanced" and talk about the FCC back then couldn't deliver on what was promised?

just my 2 cents

Neutral

AR @ Jan 23rd 2009 7:01PM

Where did you get a picture of my grandma?

Neutral

joedirt131 @ Jan 26th 2009 11:51PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't TV stations still allowed to cut off their analog transmissions whenever they want? I thought the mandate just FORCED them to stop their analog transmissions, but they were allowed to stop transmitting analog signals whenever they wanted. I figure that since many TV stations were ready for it, (a few local stations here were planning to shut it off on the 10th) they might still go ahead with it. Maybe, maybe not.

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