The Senate on Monday approved a bill that would move the date of the digital television transition from February 17 to June 12.
The bill was approved unanimously, and is scheduled to be taken up by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday morning.
TV broadcast stations are federally mandated to switch from analog to digital signals by February 17 in order to free up spectrum for public safety and other uses. But recent concerns about funding, the government-sponsored converter box coupon program, and possible reception problems on February 18 prompted Democrats and President Obama to call for a delay to the switch.
Under the bill, dubbed the DTV Delay Act, stations have until June 12 to flip the switch - - but they are allowed to do so earlier. In the event that a station does switch early, the vacant spectrum will be made available to public safety officials.
Meanwhile, the bill also allows consumers with expired, government-issued converter box coupons to apply for replacement coupons. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is providing two $40 converter box coupons to anyone who wants them, but consumers were running into problems because these coupons expire and cannot be replaced.
The bill also extends the deadline to apply for a coupon from March 31 to July 31.
The bill was crafted by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.
"This is a big step towards ensuring that consumers can adequately prepare for the DTV transition," Klobuchar said in a Monday statement.
Senate Republicans were initially concerned about moving the date, fearing it would cause consumer confusion. After Democrats added in the changes to the coupon program, and promised Republicans that the date would not be changed again, Republicans eventually issued their support.
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January 26, 2009 9:52 PM
I think with policies like these, along with all of the others he has put out so far, our first black President, is likely to be our last black President.
I am sure all of the thousands of stations that spent millions of dollars appreciate the fact that a fraction of the populous will not be able to get reception by rabbit ears. In fact, there is the same percentage of the population that does not even KNOW ABOUT THE CHANGE.
Perhaps the next step is to go door to door across the country. It could save or create 4 million jobs.
January 27, 2009 8:11 AM
The DTV transition still needs to happen on February 17. If stations have to wait until June 12th it is going to put too much added burden on them and loss of money. There are too many wheels in motion depending on the February 17th transition date. It'S not like the public has not been informed of this EVERY DAY for almost two years. If the consumer is not ready by now!! OH WELL!!
January 27, 2009 9:02 AM
chris,
while i respect--but don't necessarily agree--with your assessment of obama's brief tenure thus far, i fail to understand how his policies will prevent the united states electorate from choosing another black president.
January 27, 2009 11:37 AM
I think a lot of you guys are missing the point, and are knee-jerking to the news here without actually reading the Act or even the post above.
@chris - I think Brian's characterization of your hyperbole about Barack Obama is spot on. In other words, "what the hell?"
Again with the reading thing - did you not notice that the measure passed UNANIMOUSLY in the Senate? That means first: it's the Senate, which is in the legislative branch, not the executive (where the President resides), and second, the definition of unanimous means that members of BOTH parties voted for it. This has nothing to do with partisanship or politics as it has to do with sound policy.
The networks that spent money on this change were partially subsidized by taxpayer dollars. Don't you want to make sure your tax dollars get the most possible impact? People frequently like to complain about the government wasting their tax money - this is a prime example of the government making sure that our money is well spent. The networks that have made the switch (and are making the switch) can do so at any time after the 17th - no one's forcing them to keep analog on life support. In fact, most networks have already transitioned to digital, so this change has nothing to do with the networks, or their money. This isn't about awareness, it's about delivering on a commitment.
You can't have this both ways - complain about the money the networks spent and how precious it is (as if they won't recoup the costs by selling the bandwidth or raking in money from new cable/satellite subscriptions) without appreciating how important the taxpayer dollars that are going to the coupon program is as well.
@Joel: I don't think this is true. The post above states: "Under the bill, dubbed the DTV Delay Act, stations have until June 12 to flip the switch - - but they are allowed to do so earlier. In the event that a station does switch early, the vacant spectrum will be made available to public safety officials."
Seriously folks, reading comprehension?
And like I said in a previous comment - the main impetus for this change was the fact that the coupon program was running out of money. Nursing homes, prisons, and hospitals were unable to get all of the money promised to them by the service in order to convert their televisions to digital, buy converters, or raise the money to subscribe to cable or satellite packages.
Are we so married to the networks and the cable/satellite companies that we'd rather pull the plug on the TVs of those people who likely most need the assistance the most? What's the rush?