Senate OKs Digital TV Delay

[modeps]

In a show that the government is clearly ready to stay in the stone ages, the Senate has unanimously OK'd a delay in forcing all television broadcasts to be digital. Instead of February 17th, their new date is June 12th. BizJournals (http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/01/26/daily21.html):

"Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va. and author of the Senate bill, in a statement. "I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time."

The extra four-month delay would give the Federal Communications Commission time to address its overextended coupon program. Earlier this month, the $1.34 billion program to subsidize the cost of digital converter boxes ran out of money and $40 coupons with some 2.5 million people still on the waiting list. Digital converter boxes, which cost between $40 and $80 and translate digital signals back to analog, are necessary for some viewers' older television sets to continue working after the transition.

They've been talking about doing this since at least 2003. Time to shit or get off the pot.

[LilAbner]

Here's hoping the dates stays. I'd rather see The Great TV Riots of 2009 sooner than later.

[Reanimated]

I bet the companies that paid billions to buy all of that spectrum are more than a little pissed right now, seeing as how all of their business plans for it are now on hold.

Are there really that many people still using fucking rabbit ears to watch television?

Bottom line - this shit is stupid. The transition should have gone ahead as planned.

[saulob]

If it's like that on USA. I image how it will be here on Brazil.

[atariv8]

Millions of people get their TV from analog broadcast and there's still people who think digital delivery will trump physical media in the next 5 years...it's the Wal-Mart Principle, if you can't get it at Wal-Mart in a bin for $5 then it ain't got mass market potential.

[vherub]

This is simply pathetic. 2+ million people on a waiting list. Was no one aware of what the numbers might be? And broadcasters have the right to switch before that date anyway? That's just more chaos.
People love tv, and will flip out whatever date you set, it could be 30 year from now. But within 3 days of the switch, people who love tv will make restoring tv a top priority and get it fixed.

[lockwoodx]

Here's hoping the dates stays. I'd rather see The Great TV Riots of 2009 sooner than later.

The goverment needs to make sure all the ignorant people who beleve everything they see on tv have a box frist, so they can maintail control through the media. Imagine the anarchy it would create if people had to go outside or read books.

[pwnophobia]

Just flip the fucking switch. If they're not prepared now they won't be prepared by June.

[captainspankypants]

I don't really think it would be a BAD thing if a few million Americans were forced to go without TV for a while. Some of them might actually pick up a book or go for a walk or something.

[ldi222]

Uncompressed Digital signals over the air blow Comcast's HD compressed suckage out of the water.

[kwolf]

This is just bizarre ... since when has TV become a human right? OMG some people won't have TV!?! Call Amnesty International!

[Infinity]

I got my coupons yesterday and ordered the tuner boxes last night. They're shipping today. Glad I made it in by sending my request in on Dec 30th.

[Froggy]

Chill, dudes. It's not even settled yet. It passed the Senate. Now it needs to go into committee, be re-written, argued, floored, voted on in the House of Reps, and if it gets that far and passes, the President may still veto.

So before you whine bloody tv murder, watch your School House Rock! (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dVo3nbLYC0)

[beefyjr]

You would be surprised about the insane number of people who have outdated television technology. I used to work in a municipal media department, and part of my boss's job was being an intermediary between Comcast (the city's cable provider) and residents, and he had calls every day from old people who had super old cable boxes that had problems with getting them serviced.

If 2.5 million people are still on this waiting list, I'm willing to bet that there is a significantly larger number of people who have absolutely no idea that this switch is going to happen. They'll just turn on their TVs one day and they won't work.

Millions of people get their TV from analog broadcast and there's still people who think digital delivery will trump physical media in the next 5 years...it's the Wal-Mart Principle, if you can't get it at Wal-Mart in a bin for $5 then it ain't got mass market potential.

I think this is a good point, though maybe a little extreme. A huge number of the customers at the store I work at never hook their systems up to the internet. They have no idea how to and can't be bothered to learn. Or they come in looking for wireless adapters for their Wiis or PS3s or whatever. When it comes to technology, the vast majority of the people out there are behind the times in one way or another.

[alienchild]

Time to shit or get off the pot.[/I]

lol classic! Anyways we did the switch to digital delivery in 2007, although by then many already had TV through fiber optics anyways. I personally got digital delivery in 2005 I believe and there is no way back. With 100/100mbit internet coming in a few months (got 50/30mbit atm), 2 HD decoders that can do 1080i and free IP-telephone I can't say anything but GET READY TO HAVE FUN! Yes sure it starts with digital TV, but once people get used to it and want better -everything- there is no turning back, and old copper cables will have to make way for fiber. Too bad it got postponed though :/

I also picked up a PVR decoder box today, so now I can record in HD from one channel while I watch another (or just set it to record a show at a later time), and then save them either on the PVR or on an external USB disk (can't write straight to the USB in HD though I believe). Man this digital TV revolution kicks ass! :D

[LilBunnyFuFu]

lol classic! Anyways we did the switch to digital delivery in 2007, although by then many already had TV through fiber optics anyways. I personally got digital delivery in 2005 I believe and there is no way back. With 100/100mbit internet coming in a few months (got 50/30mbit atm), 2 HD decoders that can do 1080i and free IP-telephone I can't say anything but GET READY TO HAVE FUN! Yes sure it starts with digital TV, but once people get used to it and want better -everything- there is no turning back, and old copper cables will have to make way for fiber. Too bad it got postponed though :/

I also picked up a PVR decoder box today, so now I can record in HD from one channel while I watch another (or just set it to record a show at a later time), and then save them either on the PVR or on an external USB disk (can't write straight to the USB in HD though I believe). Man this digital TV revolution kicks ass! :D

Really? With the gloating? Who the hell is this guy?

I work in a store where we have had to warn customers about the switch since it was first mentioned, and honestly I'm tired of the reciting the same paragraph over and over again. I want the switch to happen just so I can for get that spiel.

[pwnophobia]

So before you whine bloody tv murder, watch your School House Rock! (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dVo3nbLYC0)

ahaha, you receive the "Reply of the morning" award. Awesome.

[Kayler]

Sweet! LTE is going to get delayed. Go WiMAX!

[Sloth]

From what i understand the delay comes with the stipulation that there won't be any other delays. I say go ahead as planned, if people aren't caught up then nothing will light a fire under their ass like playing catch up.

[Roc Ingersol]

I don't know why we're subsidizing the conversion anyway.
We didn't subsidize the switch from analog to digital cell phone service.

And if we insist that we must subsidize this switch - what happens when the industry wants to roll out their newer DTV standard? (What we're cutting over to is a crappy standard laid out based on 90s tech. No-one else in the world is cutting over to our standard because it's that obsolete. The FCC already gave the green light to broadcasters to bake and release an update.)

And frankly, the idea that a senator can say --with a straight face-- that millions of Americans waking up without TV is a horror is absurd. It's TV ffs. If they're using rabbit ears and don't know about the conversion at this point they simply do not care. Adding another couple months to the charade won't help.

[atariv8]

I don't really think it would be a BAD thing if a few million Americans were forced to go without TV for a while. Some of them might actually pick up a book or go for a walk or something.

...or pick up a gun and go to a McDonalds, We may never know who the TV is keeping at bay. ;)

[ldi222]

Playing devils advocate, TV is necessary especially for those non tech savvy or poor who only receive over the air broadcasting as a means of information. Consider the event of a national emergency or even just a snow storm such as what we are having today in the Mid Atlantic. Aside from the mindless barrage which is network programming and especially local news, TV remains important and for some the most important resource for delivering information. This is probably why the government is being so cautious about the switch to ensure no one looses access.

[Trazzlo the Magnificant]

I don't know why we're subsidizing the conversion anyway.
We didn't subsidize the switch from analog to digital cell phone service. It's because you took away a working system and replaced it with one that doesn't (without extra cost), and then sold that spectrum for over $20 billion and then were too cheap to fund the transition properly.

That, plus over-the-air television is used as a means of communication during times of crisis. A disaster such as an earthquake can sever the land lines, leaving over-the-air as the only option to deliver info.

It's a delay because there wasn't enough funding to see it through.

What they SHOULD have done was make all televisions digital ready for over-the-air reception since 1990. They didn't.

It's not the end of the world if the US waits another few months to be purely digital.

[ElektroDragon]

The STUPID part is, for the poor and those in hard to reach rural areas (usually the same thing), this conversion is horrible. My father, for instance. He can't get cable. He can't afford satellite. He has a huge antenna on his house. With the digital box he now has, he can't get most of the channels he was able to pick up on analog. He used to get poor but watchable signal with analog. With digital, the same signal is just "not there" 90% of the time. The problem with digital is that it's either there, or it isn't. On or off. And no amount of signal boosting is going to help. They really have done folks in rural areas a disservice with the DTV transition.

[Spamkill]

The problem with digital is that it's either there, or it isn't. On or off. And no amount of signal boosting is going to help.

When I got a digital tv, I was hoping to ditch cable and but I ran into this problem. The signal wasn't strong enough so even though I live close to town, it's on the side of a hill that blocks all the local signals. I can't get any channels, I tried several big roof antennas too.

I think there's gonna be a lot of people that are gonna be angry that they lost their handful of fuzzy channels.

[RUSKULL]

They should have proposed a regulation that enforced better television programing :)

[captainspankypants]

...or pick up a gun and go to a McDonalds, We may never know who the TV is keeping at bay. ;)

Very good point, actually.

[Roc Ingersol]

It's because you took away a working system and replaced it with one that doesn't (without extra cost), and then sold that spectrum for over $20 billion and then were too cheap to fund the transition properly.Exactly the same as the analogue to digital cellphone conversion.That, plus over-the-air television is used as a means of communication during times of crisis.If analogue broadcast was so useful at getting the word out, we wouldn't be talking about 'millions' of homes that don't know about the transition and aren't ready. Also: radios exist.It's not the end of the world if the US waits another few months to be purely digital.The original date was delayed from 2006 to 2009. The cut-over projections didn't get any better. Then it was delayed from January to February. Again: not any better. Do you really think anything will be substantively improved a couple months from now?

[shadow763]

Just flip the fucking switch. If they're not prepared now they won't be prepared by June.

This is truth and what SHOULD have been done!

[ElektroDragon]

We also would have had HDTV in 1988 or so, if not for the government. Seriously, I had heard about HDTV growing up as early as 1986. Took almost 20 years to actually get here.

[Trazzlo the Magnificant]

Exactly the same as the analogue to digital cellphone conversion.If analogue broadcast was so useful at getting the word out, we wouldn't be talking about 'millions' of homes that don't know about the transition and aren't ready. Also: radios exist.The original date was delayed from 2006 to 2009. The cut-over projections didn't get any better. Then it was delayed from January to February. Again: not any better. Do you really think anything will be substantively improved a couple months from now?Had they not screwed up for so long, then no delays would be required. As I clearly said, they should have made televisions support digital much earlier.

The ONLY reason there was ever a decision to turn off analogue was because they could sell the bandwidth. They made their money, they could have funded and managed the entire transition adequately. There are a lot of "could have's", all of which are missing.

It was a poorly structured transition of a situation created for profiting by selling existing infrastructure, the costs of which were unfairly targeted at the poor and rural.

They had a system, it worked.

That system was changed, and no longer worked.

Why charge the poor for that?

[ResistanceAddict]

Seriously, what good is 4 more months going to do? Waste of time.

[Scramble]

What's the deal with the coupons? Digital STB's cost from as low as $40 here in Australia and our government isn't handing out freebies. I didn't realise the state of Digital TV was that bad in the States. It's pretty shitty here, but it seems like the uptake is not so great there either.
Roll on March this year! 24Hr FTA HD Sports Channel!

[RUSKULL]

Anyone know what the upside to all this will be? And I don't mean for those making the money. How does the average viewer benefit?