Not ready for the digital television transition which is set to take place on February 17? Well you’re not alone. According to a new reported released by The Nielson Company, approximately 6.5 million U.S. households (or 5.7 percent of all homes) are still not ready for the transition. As a result, the Senate is close to agreeing on a bill that would extend the deadline until June 12th. If the bill passes the Senate, it would then get sent to the House for approval.
Of course, not everyone is in agreement with extending the deadline. Republicans in both the House and the Senate are worried that extending the deadline could possibly confused consumers and increase costs to television stations who need to broadcast in both analog and digital. Extending the deadline would also delay opening up the spectrum to commercial wireless services and interoperable emergency-response networks.
Oh yes – one other problem to consider. Remember those federal rebate coupons for the digital converter boxes? Well the Commerce Dept has already met their $1.34 billion funding limit for the coupons and as a result will only provide new coupons when older unredeemed ones reach their 90 day expiration date. The current waiting list numbers 2.6 million requests!
So if you’re not ready for the transition, what are you waiting for? Just go out there and buy the converter boxes already. Even if the deadline gets extended, at least you can say you’re ready when the transition finally occurs.
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