Logo

Senate Votes to Delay DTV Transition; House Plans Endorsement

Jan 26, 2009  •  Post A Comment

Congress is on track to delay the digital TV transition scheduled for Feb. 17 until June 12, with wheels in motion to send legislation postponing the transition to President Obama before week’s end.

Monday night, hours after the Senate unanimously approved delaying the transition, House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., announced he was abandoning plans to craft his own DTV delay legislation and would instead seek an immediate House floor vote on the Senate bill targeting June 12 on Tuesday.
Where do you stand on delaying the DTV switch? Make your voice heard in TVWeek’s online poll. Click here to take the survey.
“I am pleased that the Senate has acted to delay the deadline, which is our only hope of mitigating the negative impact on millions of consumers,” he said. “In light of the Senate action, I will work with the House Democratic Leadership to bring up the Senate bill for consideration Tuesday.”
Mr. Waxman’s comments reiterated Senators’ concerns Monday that Congress needed to act quickly.
“Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., who proposed the delay in the Senate. “I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time. The Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged process.”
The committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said while she had serious concerns shifting the transition without a plan to inform consumers or deal with a shortage of converter box coupons, the legislation solves those problems.
“These changes will help consumers whose coupons have expired, and allow TV stations that are prepared, and ready, to move forward without the requirement of simulcasting,” she said, adding that Sen. Rockefeller had promised there would be no second delay.
A delay to the digital TV transition would be a setback, though a temporary one, to a trek that started when legislators put the nation on the road toward the next generation of TV in December 2005.
Digital TV was portrayed as a win for all. Consumers would get a DVD-like picture, with less static, no ghosts, the possibility of movie theater-like viewing, extra channels and new types of services. Meanwhile, because digital TV signal used less bandwidth than the old analog signals, the switch would provide billions of dollars’ worth of spectrum that could be returned to government control. Some could be used for better emergency communication but most could be sold, which the government promptly did for $19 billion.
That promise still exists, but today’s vote reflects Democrats’ concerns that there have been stumbles along the way and that if the transition date isn’t pushed back, millions of consumers could lose TV at midnight Feb. 17.
Democrats, including aides to President Barack Obama, have expressed concern that viewers still don’t know which sets do and do not need converter boxes and don’t know how to hook up and program their converter boxes. They also fear there are insufficient help centers available for people having trouble setting up their sets.
There also has been concern that viewers may not know be aware of signal patterns that could make some stations more difficult to see.
Finally, there has been concern from both Democrats and Republicans that not enough money was set aside to help defray the cost of converter boxes needed for TV sets not connected to cable or satellite. The government was issuing up to two $40 coupons per household, but that money has been used up, so it can only issue new coupons when existing coupons expire.
Nearly 2.6 million households are on the waiting list, and those coupons won’t be in consumers’ hands by Feb. 17.
Nielsen reported last week that 5.7% of the nation’s households are totally unready for the conversion, including 9.9% of African American and 9.7% of Hispanic households. In some markets the share of unprepared minority households is higher.
President Obama’s stimulus plan and the House version of that proposal includes more money for converter-box coupons.

46 Comments

  1. Delaying the transition to digital broadcasting for major stations from February 17 to June 12th, 2009 is ridiculous. Listen, the U.S. has tried to cut over to digital broadcasting (and also usher in High Defginition TV along the way, too) for more than a decade.
    The February 17th date is actually the third major attempt at a switchover; and it looked as if it was going as well as possible. The hardware is actually available in the marketplace, the service providers are ready to go, content is being produced/distribuuted digitally and with High Definition in mind, the awareness campaigns and government subsides were rolling, and pilot programs were conducted.
    So, another four months are not going to help those people who are already unprepared; these types of folks would be unprepared no matter what a date might be. The House and Senate should just let the February 17th date stand, and let local stations and service providers mitigate any small percentage of problem viewership afterward.

  2. Another good example for our children: SAY one thing, and DO another….

  3. Can I quote you in my report for school?

  4. Great post!

  5. Hows It Going found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff. Im looking forward to reading more from you. Great site post.

  6. will most likely have enough courage to inform Sanchez never to add mayo for the corned beef on rye? He’s from Miami. You may consider he would remember.

  7. Lindsay Lohan seriously is not going anywhere that may hold her from her film, so for a second time, I call BS with this sincere rigorous inpatient treatment rubbish. There isn’t any way Lindsay Lohan or her mum will miss this opportunity to make $. And for sure she will never dislike that scram bracelet sufficient to stop the jack and coke and let go stuffing sh*t up her unsightly nose.

  8. Lindsay Lohan “If perhaps I were the alcoholic anybody says I’m, then having a [scram[]|] bracelet on would have ended me up in detox, at the emergency room, because I would had to come down from all the stuff that folks say I sure am taking in addition to my dad states I am taking – so that says something, for the reason that I felt fine.”

  9. Viewing sibling spouses…these bitches tend to be crazy. I possibly could in share my husband!

  10. If you’re still on the fence: grab your favorite earphones, head down to a Best Buy and ask to plug them into a Zune then an iPod and see which one sounds better to you, and which interface makes you smile more. Then you’ll know which is right for you.

  11. Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

  12. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  13. Amazing freakin blog here. I almost cried while reading it!

  14. This is the best blog I’ve ever seen in my life! I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to share your this with everyone.

  15. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  16. Neat blog layout! Very easy on the eyes.. i like the colors you picked out

  17. Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy.

  18. Thanks for another groovy spot on this programme. Love the updates, hold them coming. Tiffanys jewellery

  19. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  20. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  21. This has truly sparked up an concept in my thoughts. This can be a superb website publish.

  22. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  23. Thank you for the great content. I am glad I have taken the time to see this.

  24. Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

  25. Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

  26. Keep focusing on your blog. I love how we can all express our feelings. This is an extremely nice blog here 🙂

  27. Kudos to you! This is a really good blog here and I love your style of writing. How did you get so good at blogging?

  28. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  29. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  30. Love the blog here. Nice colors. I am definitely staying tuned to this one. Hope to see more.

  31. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  32. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  33. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  34. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  35. Kudos to you! This is a really good blog here and I love your style of writing. How did you get so good at blogging?

  36. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  37. Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

  38. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  39. Bing is logo probably expense them a handsome level of cash but right after the numerous thousands that they quite possibly spent maybe th is could have already been created by a school child in h is breaktime on Microsoft is extremely very own word.

  40. Love all the opinions expressed here! How is everyone? Love how everyone expresses whatr they feel 🙂

  41. what a waste of money for all of these!

  42. I guess you inverted the very best using the worst. 😉

  43. Neat blog layout! Very easy on the eyes.. i like the colors you picked out

  44. Love all the opinions expressed here! How is everyone? Love how everyone expresses whatr they feel 🙂

  45. I must point out my love for your kindness giving support to men and women who absolutely need assistance with your subject matter. Your real commitment to passing the solution throughout had been unbelievably useful and has really encouraged those much like me to arrive at their aims. Your new useful recommendations signifies a lot to me and additionally to my peers. Thank you; from each one of us.

    https://sfwater.org/redirect.aspx?url=https://yelp.com/biz/o-reilly-law-group-las-vegas-2

  46. This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your excellent post. Also, I’ve shared your website in my social networks!

    silver

Leave a Reply to Buy Links Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)