President-elect Barack Obama is asking Congress to delay the Feb. 17 digital TV transition date. This was the day that broadcasters planned to switch to digital, rendering rabbit ears useless.
John Podesta, co-chair of the Obama-Biden transition team, sent
a letter to Congress saying that "the cut-off date for analog signals [PDF] should be reconsidered and extended."
At least one million people are awaiting coupons to get a digital converter box. There are some estimates that five million people would be left without a TV signal because of the lack of converter boxes.
TV stations have been awaiting the big switch for years. The February
Nielsen rating period was even delayed until March in anticipation of the disruption the change could cause.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
According to the Nielsen Co., about 6.8 percent of U.S. TV households, or 7.7 million homes, were unprepared for the digital switch as of last month, meaning they had no TVs capable of receiving a digital signal. The percentage is higher in Los Angeles, with 9.46 percent, or about 535,000 homes unprepared for the switch.
The Wall Street Journal says:
On Monday, Bush administration officials announced that a $1.5 billion coupon program to help consumers buy digital boxes needed to keep older TVs working after the switch is running out of money. Consumers who apply for coupons now are being put on a waiting list, but administration officials acknowledged there was no assurance that consumers who apply now would get the $40 coupons before the switch. They urged consumers to buy at least one set-top converter box, which retail around $50 to $80, without a coupon.
Congressional leaders were already considering pushing back the digital conversion date by three or four months. They're also looking at how to add more money to the troubled government coupon program quickly.
"Considering the federal treasury is going to book nearly $20 billion in revenue from the DTV spectrum auction, we think this is the right move. Consumers shouldn't have to pay for this transition they didn't ask for," said Chris Murray, senior attorney at Consumers Union, which recommended a delay on Wednesday.
The Dallas Morning News' technology blog says
the DTV problems Obama has cited are "overblown":
1. Coupons unavailable: The federal government should never have given out converter-box coupons to all applicants in the first case. There's no excuse for using federal funds to subsidize the TV viewing of wealthy and middle class Americans, particularly given that the boxes cost well under $100. You might be able to make some case for helping out very poor people, but even that is a weak case. TV is not food. It's not medicine. It's not a necessity of any kind.
As for those coupons being unavailable now, I have little pity for folks who missed out. They've been available for nearly a year. Anyone who put in two minutes of effort at any point during that time would have the coupons now. If you didn't bother, then tough luck. Decisions have consequences. You will just have to buy a box yourself, but don't worry. I'm sure you'll be able to mail your receipt in for reimbursement.
2. Education and Support have been Insufficient: That's just a lie. The government has multiple Web sites dedicated to explaining the transition. Every news publication in the country has run stories about it. Every broadcast TV station has flooded the airwaves with announcements, explanations, tests and every other conceivable aid.
Anyone who hasn't heard of transition and come to understand it either doesn't watch television, doesn't take the slightest responsibility for learning about the world or doesn't have enough intelligence to live independently and make decisions about television reception or any other life matters.
A delay, while giving those without converter boxes a reprieve, would be a big hitch in education efforts that have already cost millions of dollars. The federal government, for instance,
announced Tuesday that it allocated more than $8.4 million to educate senior citizens, Spanish speaking viewers, viewers with disabilities, viewers living in tribal areas and others about the change to digital.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) said last month that it planned to open
an emergency hotline for people confused about the transition:
Based on the results from the September 8 analog shut-off experiment in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the analog shut-off tests already conducted by more than 400 local television stations, NAB anticipates there will be approximately two million calls from viewers during the five days following February 17, roughly half of which would occur on February 18.
More information is available on the
NAB's DTV Web site.
FCC commissioner efforts are under way to visit cities where 15 percent or more of the population gets its TV signals solely over the air.
Additional resources:Information about the converter box coupon program.
Links from the FCC Web site:
A TV insider's Web site that will give you an idea as to how thoroughly broadcast folks have anticipated the big switch.
Few are addressing the problems those in suburban and rural...
