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Obama Recommends Delay in Digital TV Switch


Geoffrey

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I do think DTV still has many kinks that need to be worked out. That said, it is too late to extend. Everyone's got "Feb. 17, 2009" on their brains. Some may not be prepared for DTV, but that would probably be a very small number of people. Those who don't know about the DTV transition likely fall into one of 2 categories: A) They don't own a TV, or B) They only watch cable or satellite stations, in which case they don't need to do anything.

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Analog TV needs to go away....there are stations that are waiting to up their power and move to better frequencies and cannot do anything until a analog frequency that is standing in their way using their allocation is shut off for good. Plus, with the percentage of people already on cable and satellite, how many people is this actually going to affect?

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It seems that the FCC Chairman doesn't want the DTV date to move either.

 

After last January when stations started airing the plugs, and last November 10th when they started airing 100-day countdown, there is absolutely no reason to move the date. The problem isn't about folks not knowing about the transition (everyone should know it by now), it's about folks taking action. It's not like the boxes would be gone off store selves anytime soon and the new TVs should be cheaper now because of the recession. I do agree with Martin, the government needs to find some way to get funds to continue subsidizing the program. But at the same time, I wouldn't want them to postpone the cut-off date. It seems now that some folks are just too damn lazy to take action and wait until the last minute do something (until it's too late). So with that said, when the analogs do cut off (and I hope they don't push 11:59pm Local Time, Tuesday Night, February 17th back) and the folks that didn't get any boxes (coupon or not) or cable, tough-titty!

 

I do however wish that WLS-TV boost their power greater than their proposed 4.75Kw once they move to RF 7 next month and extend their coverage area to stretch just a tad further north & east.

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They were.

 

An FCC mandate established that any TV or device with a television tuner (DVR, VCR, DVD recorder, etc.) manufactured after March 1, 2007 must have an ATSC digital tuner. Actually, any TV 36" or larger made after July 1, 2005 must have an ATSC tuner as well.

 

I totally disagree with a postponement of the digital transition. I requested my coupons last year, and I didn't even have a TV that needed a converter box (I'm HD-only). So I used one to get a box for a TV my grandmother has that's OTA-only and gave the other to my dad to use on the garage TV. If you haven't gotten around to getting ready for the transition by now, you deserve to be SOL.

 

Except this was first announced around the late 1990s, so (I would think) the push for emphasizing the switch should have begun, at the latest, about 2004 instead of 2007. The whole thing seemed too rushed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://rockefeller.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=306824&

 

ROCKEFELLER FILES DTV DELAY BILL

 

~Delays Digital Transition Until June 12, 2009~

 

Washington, DC – Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV), incoming Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has authored legislation that would delay the upcoming digital television transition (DTV). The delay provides consumers who have been bogged down by the confusing bureaucracy time to prepare, protects public safety, and gives the incoming Obama Administration time to make sure that no Americans are left in the dark.

 

“The outgoing Bush Administration has mismanaged this initiative and President-elect Obama has asked Congress to delay the date of the transition. Over two million Americans are waiting to receive a coupon to help them offset the cost of equipment that will help them manage the transition – millions more don’t have the proper information they need,” Rockefeller said.

 

“It did not have to be this way. This is why today I have introduced a bill to delay the date of the DTV transition to June 12, 2009. I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition,” Rockefeller said.

 

“I am especially concerned because this transition is going to hit our most vulnerable citizens—the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and those with language barriers—the hardest. Rural communities that rely on over-the-air television will be especially impacted. We risk leaving those who are most reliant on over-the-air broadcast television for their information literally in the dark, and I’m fighting to see that this does not occur,” Rockefeller said.

 

A Bill to Postpone the Digital Television Transition Summary

Delay helps Americans who remain confused and unprepared – The majority of Americans are unclear about how the transition will affect them. Despite high awareness of the DTV switch, a recent Consumer Report survey found that among Americans aware of the transition, 63% had major misconceptions about what steps they need to take to prepare.

 

Delay reduces public safety risks – As a source of local news and information in the event of emergency or natural disaster, television serves a vital role in public safety. Consumers who do not successfully make the transition will lose access to the Emergency Alert System and AMBER Alert messages.

 

Delay allows federal agencies to adequately prepare – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expects to receive almost 1.5 million calls on the days immediately following the transition but at current capacity their call center will be able to process only 350,000 of those calls each day. Republican FCC Commissioner McDowell recently stated that “the Commission’s efforts to date are inadequate.”

 

Delay allows the Administration to fix the DTV coupon program – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has mismanaged the coupon program designed to assist consumers with the purchase of digital to analog converter boxes. Over two million households are on a waiting list to receive coupons. Even with additional resources, it may be impossible to fill the backlog of coupon orders before February 17th. Congress and the new administration need time to pursue funding solutions and improve the program to ensure consumers receive the help they need.

 

Delay provides the opportunity for local community coordination – The DTV transition will be different in each community in the country. Yet consumer education efforts to date have largely been national in scope. No coordinated efforts exist to help the elderly and disabled install converter boxes. The new administration needs time to develop regional approaches to help consumers.

 

Delay reduces safety risks – In many parts of the country the winter weather will put consumers and tower crews at risk if the transition occurs on February 17th. To maintain TV reception post-transition, many consumers may need to install roof-top antenna. Pushing back the deadline until the summer will reduce the potential for antenna-related accidents on icy winter.

 

TL;DR: Senator BAWWWWWWWWWWS that people didn't take the warnings the past few years seriously.

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If things stay the way they are, people unprepared for the DTV switch will have an additional month after 2/17/09 thanks to the "Analog Night Light". If what I've been reading about this is correct, stations participating in the "night light" CANNOT broadcast any other programming besides how to transition to DTV.

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2339049,00.asp

 

President Bush last month signed a bill into law that calls on the FCC to allow certain stations to broadcast DTV information on analog stations for 30 days after the transition.

 

TV viewers with digital TVs or cable boxes will not notice a difference come February 18, but people with over-the-air (OTA) TVs, or rabbit ears, who have not secured digital converter boxes, will just see a black screen. With the analog nightlight, however, OTA viewers who have not taken any steps to prepare for the transition will see a notice until March 19 with information about the switch and how to obtain a converter box.

 

This "night light" will not cover every OTA TV, however. As it's written, the rule currently only applies to 310 of the 1,749 stations that will be making the DTV switch. Stations not on the list can apply to be included, but they must prove that they will not cause more than 0.1 percent of new interference to a digital station.

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Delaying the switch will solve no problems. Those who don't have a new converter box by now, probably won't take the time to get one, no matter how long you delay the switch. Time to get with the program, or just stick to the internet for your news.

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Barry wants to delay the DTV switch? oh boy. that's all you'll see coming out of THIS administration.

 

I guarantee you -- Barry will make you libs LONG for Bush.

 

No offense, but Obama would have to screw up a whole lot for me to even remotely long for Bush.

 

Anyways, this is the one thing and the biggest I disagree with Obama with, which says a whole lot about my opinion of Obama. We are already in the process of shutting down analog as we speak as more and more stations are going digital only. We've know about this for over a year already. People should've prepared earlier and if there were talks about delaying it, it should've been a whole lot earlier than this.

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Disagree with all of you.

There are other reasons this makes sense--not the least of which is the real possibility that the courts will order that a lot of the converter boxes that have already been sold to be replaced.

The Bush appointees at NTIA approved ATSC-only converter boxes IN CLEAR VIOLATION OF THE ALL CHANNEL RECEIVER ACT OF 1957. If CBA's case is heard by the courts, the deadline will have to be pushed back for that reason alone.

Remember, 80 percent of all the television transmitters in this country WILL NOT go digital on the appointed date, whatever it may be. Outgoing Chairman Kevin Martin worked out a compromise with CBA that would have allowed the conversion to go on time, but the evil cable industry bribed just enough senators to force the FCC to drop a vote on the proposal, reviving CBA's lawsuit.

By postponing the deadline, the FCC has another chance to consider Martin's "safe harbor" proposal.

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Disagree with all of you.

 

Wait a second, R.J... if I look at things from your point of view, your argument makes zero sense. Shouldn't you actually be in favor of keeping the February 17 digital transition date? If your station is staying analog, and there are all of these ignorant people out there who haven't taken any action with regards to upgrading their TVs with an ATSC tuner, wouldn't that actually increase viewership on your station? Just axin'.

 

And let's get real. You and I both well know there's not a chance in hell any court will rule that all ATSC converter boxes would have to be replaced for violating a law passed in 1957.

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Actually, we got dispensation from the FCC, so we'll be going digital (moving to channel 43 for the sake of all the local CW viewers who can't count to 33) as soon as the rest of the equipment gets here.

The law is the law. FCC staff wouldn't have scrambled so quickly to come up with a compromise if there weren't a real threat this might happen.

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http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/22/5-7-6-5-million-u-s-homes-still-not-dtv-ready/

 

Although I'd love to see the switch happen, 6.5 million households that are not ready is quite a frightening statistic. The government should have gotten the word out earlier, in a more organized fashion. What the should do is ask one or two network affiliated stations per market to shut down early (if the delay happens), so viewers would have a reason to go out and get the boxes.

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Although I'd love to see the switch happen, 6.5 million households that are not ready is quite a frightening statistic.

 

I don't understand what is so frightening about that. Maybe to the stations that want as many viewers as possible, but it's not like a national crisis. It's not like food is being withheld from these people or that they're all going to be evicted next month. It's TV. And if they were unaware of the upcoming deadline, then they probably don't watch much TV anyway.

 

I'm sick of these DTV announcements and countdowns... I'd love for it to all be over as soon as possible. Let's just flip the switch.

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It's worth noting just because the deadline is delayed, doesn't mean stations won't just flip the switch earlier. It's just the last possible day for stations to go to DTV.

 

The current analog equipment uses a lot of space, and some stations with limited space are planning to remove the equipment to build new studios or rooms. It wouldn't be surprising if many stations flip on the 17th to move ahead with existing plans.

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That makes sense. I mean, the date is ingrained in everybody's head, why confuse people even more. I heard in November that here in the Tristate, only about 12,000 households are not ready. I assume that statistic has shrunk.

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