This next week the Senate is expected to vote on legislation to delay the transition of broadcast television in the United States from analog signals to digital signals.
The initial deadline was to have been February 17, 2009, however some in Congress as well as President Obama claim that more time is needed due to the fact that evidence has shown that consumers are not prepared. The new legislation sets a deadline for the switch to June 12, 2009, however broadcasters can switch over to digital prior to that deadline if they so choose.
While I am sure that enough money was not provided to fund the coupon program, and that the whole information campaign has been bungled from the beginning, I don’t think that extending the deadline is really going to do any good. The consumers have been seeing ads from both the federal government as well as their local cable providers informing them about the transition and what they can do. Changing this deadline is not going to help any.
No matter when they switch the deadline to consumers are going to be left out in the cold. Sometimes you have to pull the band-aid off fast in order to lessen the long term pain.
I wonder what percentage of households receive over the air broadcasts. The number of people who have yet to switch is larger than every US metropolitan area except New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago at 6.5 million.
I find suspect a concern people have not been able to afford the converter boxes. Walmart has one for about $50 and https://www.dtv2009.gov/ offers a $40 coupon. Apparently there are still 2 million on the waiting list for this coupon but the program hit its budget so they can’t issue new ones. So a whole bunch of people who presumably can’t afford a converter or new TV are going to be faced with what to do.
This is hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMeaX8Kz2TM