Senate passes bill to delay digital TV switch

[tron3]

Haven't read the whole story yet. Check it out.

The transition date would move to June 12 from February 17 under the bill that was fueled by worries that viewers are not technically ready for the congressionally-mandated switch-over.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090127/...s_dtv_congress

[Beta Man]

Now I have to add "Call FCC" for June 11th to my calendar

[owa]

I don't think they should do it (shouldn't delay it). There has been more than enough time and how can anyone miss all the promotional messages about it. If they have missed them, I'd guess they don't watch a lot of TV and it won't matter to them anyway.

[SkullPhyre]

You can thank obama for this he wants to help all the poor people out. He did say he was going to do this.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by SkullPhyre

You can thank obama for this he wants to help all the poor people out. He did say he was going to do this.

Didn't I say this could happen in another thread?

As much as I hate the idea, it is nice to know my portable TV's are good for another 4 months.

Besides, if 2.6 million people are really left without a TV signal, it could be catastrophic if terrorists attack. That is a lot of citizens to leave in the dark.

[witheygull]

Originally Posted by tron3

Besides, if 2.6 million people are really left without a TV signal, it could be catastrophic if terrorists attack. That is a lot of citizens to leave in the dark.

Because there obviously wouldn't be any news on the internet or radio of a terrorist attack. Perhaps the terrorists could take out all of the radio stations and the entire internet and all cell phone towers and and all phone lines. They would probably also have to target electronic highway information signs and civil defense/storm warning sirens. If any adult in the U.S. relies solely on analog OTA TV broadcasts for news of terrorist attacks, I believe they are beyond help regardless of the actual date of the digital broadcast switchover.

[mystiksuicide]

Originally Posted by tron3

Didn't I say this could happen in another thread?

As much as I hate the idea, it is nice to know my portable TV's are good for another 4 months.

Besides, if 2.6 million people are really left without a TV signal, it could be catastrophic if terrorists attack. That is a lot of citizens to leave in the dark.

Can't they get the news over the radio? I mean if they are that antiquated they should have a radio

[tron3]

Originally Posted by mystiksuicide

Can't they get the news over the radio? I mean if they are that antiquated they should have a radio

My point was that most people at home have the TV on. Short of calling up millions of people, it is the fastest means to get the news to the masses immediately.

Did you listen to the radio when 9/11 hit? I had to as I working the help desk at the NJ Air National Guard at the time and could not leave it. Not the same as seeing it.

FYI: I received one of the first, if not THE first phone call to the base when the first plane struck. My supervisor was off that day. He was watching TV and got the news immediately before the second plane even hit. He called me right away to tell to the chief to tell the commander. Ugh, I hate those memories.

[Sloan78]

Originally Posted by owa

I don't think they should do it (shouldn't delay it). There has been more than enough time and how can anyone miss all the promotional messages about it. If they have missed them, I'd guess they don't watch a lot of TV and it won't matter to them anyway.

+1

On the other hand I kinda glad they did, because I hear alot of confusion from customers everyday about this. Even with all of the ads running for 2+ years now, older customers seem to be confused with it still.

[Terjyn]

Sure, but what makes anyone believe that 4 additional months will somehow inform those who've refused to be informed so far?

[Sloan78]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

Sure, but what makes anyone believe that 4 additional months will somehow inform those who've refused to be informed so far?

This thing isn't going to be over in four months, it's taken 2+ years of non stop information and they delay it with less than a month to go? This is gonna get good/funny.

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm really disappointed the Senate has passed a bill for this very stupid delay. Moving the cut off date to June 12 will change nothing. There will still be nearly the same number of people possibly stuck with no over the air TV service. Those folks aren't going to change their TV viewing equipment until they are forced to change by having no TV signal at all.

That number changes depending on who is doing the reporting. The Yahoo article claims 20 million households are unprepared for the DTV switch. Nielsen puts the number near 6 million households (down from over 8 million a few months ago). The US has over 130 million households.

Sure, some of the people not ready for the change are low income viewers. However, there is a significant percentage who aren't impoverished and have simply refused to make any changes at all. A lot of elderly viewers don't want to fart around with new technology, even something as simple as a rudimentary converter box. Then there's the conspiracy theory types who think the whole DTV process is just a plot to get everyone stuck paying for cable or satellite service. Last, but not least, a good portion of the hold outs have just been too lazy or dense to get properly prepared for the DTV change.

I wouldn't be nearly as irritated about this delay if the government had brought this up a few months ago -at a time when TV stations and broadcast networks could have done more to adjust their schedules.

Instead, the government is moving to pass this crappy legislation only 3 weeks away from the February 17 analog cut-off date. That's outrageous. A lot of local TV stations are already firing up their DTV transmissions to "full power" levels. A lot of NBC affiliates have been ramping up to 1 million watt DTV broadcast levels in advance of Super Bowl 43.

Not many local TV stations can afford to sustain full power DTV transmission levels while keeping a legacy analog TV signal running at normal levels for another 4 months after the original deadline date.

I guess that's why over $650 million in taxpayer money is proposed to be put aside in the not-yet-passed economic stimulus package being proposed. This DTV delay could end up costing billions of dollars. Local TV stations and large telecom companies could eat those losses and adjust by tossing even more people out of work. Or the taxpayers, as usual, can provide a bail out.

[Captain Fryyy]

Originally Posted by Sloan78

+1

On the other hand I kinda glad they did, because I hear alot of confusion from customers everyday about this. Even with all of the ads running for 2+ years now, older customers seem to be confused with it still.

+2...i have a feeling this wont be the last delay either..

[My_Two_Cents]

Already reported earlier in the "old" DTV switch thread. Maybe a mod can merge?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...20#post1550520

[hardcorefrokid]

Big mistake.

[DIY_HD]

Some viewers will go kicking and screaming into the digital age. While I feel bad for some elderly folks with no one to explain this to them, the rest are just too busy pushing buttons on their remotes to request the coupons (debit cards, actually) to get their converter boxes.

There is also an inherent cost to the TV stations for this delay. Many of them are broadcasting in both digital and analog signals. This means they have to pay to power two transmitters.

Do you think TV advertisers are at the root of all this? If 2.6 million people could no longer see their ads, it would be a concern to them. It probably has little to do with poor people not being able to watch the 5 o'clock news.

I believe many will not do anything until they turn off the analog transmitters for good. They were originally supposed to make the switch in 2006. Driving to work I counted 5 roof-top TV antennas (in 30 miles). Heck, I have seen some houses with 3 satellite dishes! I doubt as many people will be affected by this as they claim. Such a hardship not being able to watch old reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies.

[reiella]

Epic fail... Oh well.

Originally Posted by cdmoran

Here's where we end up paying for a big bailout of the TV industry to offset the costs they will incur over this. All politicians should be locked away where they can't do any more harm.

The station industry is being affected, but the folks getting royalled screwed are the public safety industries [part of the freed band is for that]. This delay pushes their ability for test windowing their new communications network back a year because of the not being able to get good test conditions in the fall.

Telecommunications get screwed too, I believe it's Qwest whose looking at 100m$ cost for the delay. They are currently paying some stations to voluntarily vacate their old signal so they can utilize the bandwidth/waves they purchased. And it looks like they will have to continue to pay those ones, and in order to continue with their expansion, pay more station providers, or delay the deployment of the network they kinda own but can't use.

It sucks all around.

Originally Posted by Terjyn

Sure, but what makes anyone believe that 4 additional months will somehow inform those who've refused to be informed so far?

The other huge unit of cost. You know how much money was spent saying February! FEBURARY FEBURARY! Now, going to get to spend more than that in the same time frame, going June JUNE JUNE REALLY IT'S JUNE! It's freaking epc fail .

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I found this pretty funny this morning...

For months now, all of the local stations that broadcast local news have had their own commercials advertising the February 17th deadline for the digital transition.

This morning, I was watching one of those stations. They did a report on the conversion date being changed to June. Then, like a minute later, they went to a commercial break, and still aired their existing commercial about the Feb. 17th deadline.

[P@t_Mtl]

This delay is a bit of slap in the face to all of the people would took the time and spend the money to make the change in order to be ready for the original deadline.

[raskal66]

All this because the government wants to give your money away to an outlet where you the taxpayer will never see a return on it. The delay was caused by that stupid coupon that subsidizes the converter box. Where in the constitution or the bill of rights does it say that that the people are entitled to free over the air TV provided by the government if you can't afford one?