Congress approves delay of digital-TV transition
Updated at 2:25 p.m. PST with comments from lawmakers and regulators.
With less than two weeks left before the scheduled national transition to digital broadcasting, Congress on Wednesday approved a delay of the DTV switchover.
The House of Representatives voted 264 to 158 to push the transition back from February 17 to June 12. The Senate unanimously approved the delay last week.
House Republicans blocked an earlier attempt at delaying the transition, saying pushing back the date would create confusion for consumers and burden television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals. The initial vote on the measure required a two-thirds majority to pass under "fast-track" rules, but Wednesday's House vote required only a simple majority.
The bill now awaits the president's signature.
Democrats, including President Obama, were concerned that consumers were not prepared for the transition and that millions of people would be left without television service if it were not postponed. Nielsen reports that more than 6.5 million U.S. households are still not prepared for the transition.
Furthermore, millions of consumers are still waiting for coupons for digital converter boxes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which ran through the $1.3 billion allocated for the coupons. A Senate panel last weekapproved an additional $650 million for the coupon program as part of its so-called stimulus package.
"It is unfortunate that Congress had to take additional action on this issue, but the prospect of leaving millions of consumers in the dark was simply unacceptable," Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a senior member of a congressional Internet panel, said in a statement after Wednesday's vote. "This was a foreseeable problem and should have been anticipated and acknowledged by the Bush administration long ago. However, the Bush administration simply left us with insufficient time to make the needed adjustments on a national basis without this short, one-time delay."
The bill allows television stations to switch from analog to digital signals before the June 12 deadline if they are ready to do so. The vacated analog spectrum will be allocated to public safety services.
"I know we will do all that we can to minimize the inevitable disruption and confusion this transition will cause," said Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell. "In the meantime, if you need a converter box, get it today and hook it up today and start enjoying the benefits of digital television today."
Stephanie Condon is a staff writer for CNET News focused on the intersection of technology and politics. She is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail Stephanie. 
If the signals in your area are all in the UHF range, you can build your own antenna: http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/
Will somebody explain to me (1) how 32.5 million converter boxes purchased foe 17 million homes is somehow a problem, (2) how on Earth this is George Bush's fault, and (3) how 16.25 million more converter boxes are going to solve this problem?
Oh, I would be sooooo disappointed if I couldn't get TV and all the state sponsored propaganda that it brings! Oh, and the wide ranges of choices of entertainment that broadcast tv has to offer. What? No Regis & Kelley, no View? The horror!
Also, I'm still trying t figure out what the heck the govt has to do with whether I have a functioning tv in my house at all. Why should they care? Why do they care? Why are they so desperate to make sure that I do?
There is a lot more to this story than we are being told, people.
Why? Because they do not have Flava' Flave and his nasty hos in their faces every night? Or because they will miss watching women with their mouths open and legs open even wider? Or perhaps they will be in the dark because they will not be advertised to by the millions of mind-numbing, brain-washing ads that flow thru tv every day.
In my opinion, tv has done all the damage it should be allowed to do to this country.
Hollywood is run by a handful of racist who have used every deceitful trick in the book on an unsuspecting public to shape our morality and ethics into their idea of what is right, good and true.
It used to be that television reflected the morals of our society - but not anymore. Today we have entire generations of children being brain-washed into believing that soulless ***** like Paris Hilton are persons to be admired.
Today we have little boys growing up in America who believe that their entire life goal should be to get on American Idol or Jerry Springer, if they miss AI.
Truly, the only people who are going to be in the dark are those that don't miss the boat on this one.
Yes we can !
They still think Americans are idiots and don't understand what's going to happen on Feb 17??
"Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalissimo_Francisco_Franco_is_still_dead
I vote that we stretch this out another 2 years or so.
Of what benefit is the transition to America?
Do you know whats going to happen with all those old analog transmission channels?
No, I didn't think you did.
They are going to be used strictly by police, military and homeland security. Have you asked yourself why they think they are going to need such a massive communication relay right here in America? Within our own borders?
Why would they need that, anyway?
- by WulfTheSaxon February 4, 2009 3:45 PM PST
- I wonder what exactly the "benefits" of using a converter box McDowell is trumpeting are... I certainly don't see any benefit of converting a signal back and forth between analog and digital willy-nilly, do you?
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- by sanenazok February 4, 2009 9:22 PM PST
- What are the benefits of a DTV box for an old analog TV: improved quality of sound and picture, access to new multicast channels, built in program guide, additional cc/voice tracks, and others.
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- by tigerjuju February 5, 2009 12:04 AM PST
- wow, there are so many problems with your statement, not sure where to begin...
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- by xcal78 February 5, 2009 10:11 AM PST
- @WulfTheSaxon
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (82 Comments)Digital TV is great... /If you actually have a digital TV/. With a converter box, on the other hand, you've still got many of the detriments of analog, combined with all the detriments of digital.
Like I've been saying since the coupon program was first announced, they should've applied to TVs as well. Buying a converter box for your primary TV is a very bad idea...
I have my DTV converter box (bought in Feb. 2008) connected to my only TV: an old solid-state Sony with knobs for tuner selection (it looks a lot like http://home.snafu.de/wumpus/rdfmu44.jpg). The picture quality can't be beat. With the DTV box I can change channels using the remote, too, but granted 99% of analog TV users already have remotes.
If you have actually experienced DTV or read all the info out there about DTV, you would know about all of the extra benefits from DTV.
Base on your comment, you don't seem to know the difference between digital TV and HDTV. Read more about it.
The coupon is meant to help people to be able to continue getting TV over-the-air using their existing TV. It's not meant to help people get a TV upgrade at home.
I can't say anything but WOW and LOL.