House defeats bill to delay digital TV transition date
After unanimously passing the Senate Monday night, the bill to postpone the digital TV transition date was defeated in the House today with a 258-168 vote. The bill needed a two-thirds majority in order to pass the House. Republicans in the House claim that the delay isn’t necessary as it would confuse consumers, add additional delays to wireless companies and public safety agencies waiting on the upcoming freed-up spectrum, and add costs to television stations that would have to continue broadcasting in both analog and digital for four additional months.
The Obama administration and democrats in Congress want the bill passed in order to make sure as many consumers as possible are ready for the analog to digital transition which was originally planned for Feb. 17th. They claim that the Bush administration bungled the federal voucher program which provided up to two $40 dollar vouchers per household to help pay for converter boxes needed for the transition. Unfortunately the program has effectively run out of money and the agency is waiting for vouchers to go unredeemed (after 90 days) before issuing out new vouchers for people on the waiting list. Adding to this dilemma is the fact that the Nielsen Company estimates more than 6.5 million households have yet to get a converter box.
Well.. not to be harsh or anything.. but let’s face it. Americans have had years to make this transition. There’s no better motivation for consumers to go out and purchase the converter box than to simply pull the plug on the analog transmissions. I have this funny feeling that extending the date by four months will only extend a households’ procrastination on getting a box. Four more months will not help consumers get additional coupons unless the agency magically gets additional funding.. so let’s just bite the bullet, keep the date, and move already. IMHO of course…
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