Digital TV transition closer to four-month delay after Senate vote

Hold onto your rabbit ears: People unprepared for the nation's digital TV transition may get a four-month reprieve.

The Senate today voted unanimously to delay the transition to all-digital broadcasts, originally scheduled for Feb. 17, until June 12. If the measure passes the House, homes that get TV the old-fashioned way -- over the air -- will have extra time to get ready.

A delay would give the Obama administration the extra time it has been requesting to whip the converter-box program into shape. The program gave $40 coupons for the special converter boxes needed to make digital signals work with their analog TV sets, but it ran out of money early this month, and the waiting list has been growing. Reuters says:

Many lawmakers worry that an estimated 20 million mostly poor, elderly and rural households are not ready for the switch, which requires owners of older television sets receiving over-the-air signals to buy a converter box or subscribe to cable or satellite TV.

The intention of the digital-TV transition is to deliver clearer over-the-air pictures and free up valuable spectrum for public safety officials' communication systems. Critics of a delay say the nation has received ample warning about the transition and that the nation should flip the switch already, as Hawaii and Wilmington, N.C., have.

It's hard not to laugh about this all when you watch the spoof public service announcement, above, from the "Talkshow With Spike Feresten." But it's also hard not to think about the trouble that grannies all over the country may face as they try to make sense of this whole mess.

-- Chris Gaither

Comments

[j2tharome]

Goodness! This thing has been on everyone's TV's for at least a year, and the government wants to delay it more?!?!? Plus, the government wants to give more money away for this?!? If you snooze, you lose!

[8moviesfiveplays]

I'm not poor, but why do I have to pay $1,500 for three new digital televisions.

Or $120 for converter boxes that may not work since my two coupons expired

Or 50 to 120 per month for Uverse. CNN is reruns after 12Mn, infomercials, the history channels and repeat movies on HBO et al.
It's a depression the govt. should ship everybody free boxes. After all they sold out the free analog public airwaves to private and public groups. Why?

[jerome3]

@8moviesfiveplays:
1. The whole idea behind the converter boxes is so that you won't have to buy "three new digital televisions".

2. The converter boxes are not $120. They cost $50, so closer to $10, once you factor in the coupon. This practically the free boxes you want. It's a more civil and orderly way to give boxes out to those who need them.

3. Simply put, if your coupon expired, then tough for you. You should have gotten yours when you had the chance. So why complain and blame others when you yourself screwed up?

4. Why mention Uverse? What does Cable/Satellite/Fiber have to do with OTA TV?

[Noreaster]

Not addressed here is the fact that millions of people who DO have the converter boxes will still not receive the digital signals. We tried out ours and found that only 1 TV station has digital reception. The officials tap-dancing around this issue are now saying that "some" homes may need to purchase additional antennaes, and that hills may block transmission to homes. We've already wasted enough $$ over the amount of the coupons! TV stations should be made to charge less to advertisers, since many viewers are about to "disappear".

I work at an antenna company and people have had PLENTY of time to get ready for this. This digital problem has become my companys problem since nobody knows how to hook the boxes up. Not to mention when the boxes don't work the way the customer expects them to, they blame it on us. If the date gets extended, I think I might go crazy. I'm ready for this business to go back to normal before people took their frustrations out on me. I realize that this is costing people money, but come on, they've been getting FREE TV for years, and they still will!

[Bellicosity]

Radio is still free. If after all the marketing, commercials, PSAs and what-not, folks STILL aren't ready for this digital transition, let 'em listen to the radio for free.

This is like being the smart kid in a classroom who is held back by a room full of dummies. Catch up, people, or live with the consequences.

[Noreaster]

In response to the antenna employee, it's not your fault that people don't know how to hook up the converter boxes. However, the instructions are poorly written and downright inaccurate. My husband is an electrical engineer and after an hour of following the instructions, he tossed the booklet and finally connected the converter box by ignoring the instructions and "winging it". However, most Americans are not electrical engineers. Unfortunately, even with properly connected converter boxes, millions may still be left without coverage.

[bilbo]

This is going to be FUBAR - f**ked up beyond all recognition.

Digital TV is sold as a better picture but how about no picture because the signals cannot reach you -- right in the middle of a city of 1,000,000+ people.

I can't wait for this to happen. If you enjoy chaos, this will meet your greatest expectations. What fun.

And don't tell me to buy a service. I, along with 10s of millions of others, cannot afford it.

Bye-bye Miss American Pie!

[Charles Huyett]

Thousands of viewers in "tornado alley" use battery sets during storm emergencies when electric power is disrupted. No one makes a battery powered digital set yet. TV is preferable to radio for showing storm impact areas. We need delay until we can replace our emergency TVs.

[Tour de Force]

In response to the woman who's electrical engineer husband couldn't install a converter box. Are you kidding me. You insert the box into the line between the tv & the anntena. A blind moron can hook it up in a minute. If your EE husband is employed then I understand why American companies are importing Indian engineers.

[Alejandro Salazar]

As pre government edict millions of TV's become obsolete Aand it is only fair that coupons will be available to all. I have got one already. Picture is perfect. No more show. More people should try it. In LA there are 68 digital channels (20 in English). Dump the cable. It is FREE..........

[Tour de Force]

Once analog signals are turned over to public service companies, TV manufacturers will no longer have to build analog tuners into tv sets thus bringing down the cost of tv's for everybody. So if you're the moron that's holding up progress I strongly urge congress to ignor you and get on with the transition.

[Alex Maas]

I live in San Diego which is very unique because of its proximity to Los Angeles. In the 60s, a lot of homes had antennas to receive over the air signals from L.A. Seeing this, Cox first can to San Diego so people here who wanted more than just local tv stations would be the first to get the numerous stations on cable tv.
We did not have any cable from 1994 to 2002 or thereabouts, using only an antenna,e receiving about 45 channels, from San Diego, Tijuana, and Los AngelesIchannel 9 is the hardest to receive, and channel 3 from SB was obliterated by another channel 3 in Tijuana)
Now we do have cable as we needed cable internet for work reasons. Before this time, I was interested in receiving over- the air-HD signals. I went to Circuit City, Best Buy, and other places, and not a single salesperson had any utnotion of what I was talking about--insisting to me to get HD I needed to pay cable or satellite. I have less objection to satellite companies, bu we have trees that block the signals from both DirectTV and Dish.
I have never seen so much misinformation and misunderstanding of digital tv (which admittedly is different than HDTV) Notice in the post that person who works for an antenna company is, of course, making his living, SELLING you something.
From many houses or apartments, because of physical geography, or having stucco wire inside the walls and lathe and plaster, it is basically impossible to receive ANY digital signals at all with both a digital converter box and an indoor antenna. It may of course, depend upon the brand, but of course, if you walk into RadioShack, BestBuy, Fry's, Lowe's, WalMart, Target or HomeDepot, the brands are all different and vary markedly in reception quality. These would include ChannelMaster, GE, Philips, Samsung, and many others. Only the Samsung is priced much higher than the others, at around 150 dollars.
Not everyone lives in L.A. and some people might live 100 miles from any transmitter. Digital and HD over the air transmission is all or none..well sort of..meaning you get it or you do not. You might get a clear picture and then no picture and then a clear picture, but you will not get a fuzzy picture that you can just tolerate.
The other night I really wanted to watch a Clippers game on channel 5 Los Angeles, and, unfortunately, NBA rules block out these games for us, which makes no sense actually since we do not have any pro basketball team. Two years ago, we used to get a few Clipper games on our own Channel 5, but not this year. At any rate, I was completely unable to receive it because of the weather conditions, when the last one that was shown I got perfectly. However, currently anyone would laugh at the set up I am using as I screwed a GE outdoor antenna onto a practice styrofoam surfboard which rests atop a play structure and the surfboard leans on our house.
However, I can tell you with BOTH the GE digital converter box and the GE door in antenna, even though our house is on a hill, it still is very to get all the local digital and HD channels, and I know what I am doing. I cannot imagine how hard it might be for someone else.
I will be posting a complete guide on Google soon enough, probably named, Dolphin's Guide to digital and HDTV. I may or may not accept pay-per-click advertising. I have not yet decided. But I have yet to see anyone write a guide that either not telling you everything or not slanted because of someone trying to sell you a specific line of products.

You may email me at DolphinM1959@google.com, or use the same name on Skype or MSN Messenger.

[Noreaster]

"Tour de Farce" needs to read posts before commenting. Converter box instructions are poorly written and/or inaccurate and many consumers may assume their converter box is defective before attempting alternate solutions. This digital conversion will prove to be a windfall for the cable/satellite companies. Watch how many government spokespeople will be 'surprised' when the scope of the conversion-box failure becomes known -- or is the government going to send out coupons for a few million antennas?

[TnWriter55]

Congress DO NOT delay this switch. I work for a major electronics retailer and have witnessed firsthand how most of my customers have handled this transition.

I get asked questions that no one knows the answers to since none of us have gone through this before. I, like the antenna sales guy, am hoping this is over sooner than later. It's getting to the point where i actually hate interacting with my customers on this subject. I have even planned my vacation this year for the week following the transition date. This will at least keep me out of the fray for 9 days.

[Netizen19380]

Delaying the transition to digital broadcasting for major stations from February 17 to June 12th, 2009 is a poor idea. Listen, the U.S. has tried to cut over to digital broadcasting (and also usher in High Definition 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/distributed 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.

[Netizen19380]

Regarding digital TV antennas, and not being able to tune-in stations; do know that not all over-the-air (OTA) transmission towers are operating at full strength prior to the cutover to digital TV era. Afterward, many are likely to boost their transmission power, and therefore reach more viewers farther out from the towers.

Also, there is no such thing as a "digital nor High Definition TV antenna". As long as you have a UHF antenna (often the round antenna part of inexpensive ones), that antenna will receive digital transmissions fine. In situations where viewers are a far distance out, an amplified antenna can be of help.