Obama Asks Congress to Delay Digital TV Switch

[Smokey]

Just about a month before television stations were scheduled to shut off their analog signal and switch to digital broadcasting, president-elect Barack Obama asked Congress to postpone the federally mandated switch to all-digital broadcast television, called DTV, scheduled to take place Feb. 17.

The incoming administration is warning that the TVs of millions of Americans could lose their pictures because of problems in the government's preparations.

The move follows the announcement this week by the Commerce Department that it had run out of money to provide $40 coupons for low-cost converter boxes to allow older TVs to receive the new digital signal. To complicate matters further, the coupons came with a 90 day expiration date and more than 13 million expired.

Those with expired converter box coupons cannot get new ones, unless they use a different address. According to Nielsen, a media research company, about 7.8 million households or nearly 7 percent of people with TV's are completely unprepared for the deadline.

[Rich-n-Texas]

I'm not seeing nurse Ratchett in that picture there Festus.

Did you know that 7% number is the same as the amount of people currently unemployed in this country? Ironic ain't it?

[nightflier]

Good! It was a bad idea for government to mandate a technological advance that a large portion of Americans were not prepared for. In this instance, it would be better to let the technology set the pace, not government interference.

[Mr Peabody]

I say turn it off any way. It's not like it's a pacemaker. If Obama's for education, going without TV for a span may be a good thing. It might spur a bit more of the economy too. Maybe the advertisers should chip in or the networks themselves.We've been hearing about it forever, the stations were forced to do PSA's, turn it off already!!

Uncle Sam fumbles the ball, again. They should have never offer the stupid things in the first place. What would these people do if their TV broke? I don't think without would be an option.

Maybe Uncle Sam will give me a coupon for an electric car.

One morning I woke up and a small dumpster was in our drive way. What the..... I look around, everyone has one. What's going on, I think. Well as it turns out the County decides everyone has to recycle and we get billed each month for this ______ dumpster whether we recycle or not. Look there's in justice every where, it's just a TV signal, not the return of Y2k. Is no TV the reason pioneers had a short life span? Watch a VHS tape or play a game. Like that one where you can't talk and have to act and the others have to guess what you are trying to say, get some spoons and jugs, start a family band. charades!! that's the name of that game.

[kexodusc]

People are often reluctant to adopt new technologies, even if it is for the greater good, so I don't mind government accelerating things when it comes to regulated industries.

This isn't a big deal really, the government failed to meet its own goal so something has to give. Now that we have a problem, I suppose the only fair thing to do is extend it rather than punish people for government's mistakes. But at some point people have a duty to themselves and if they're too lazy to use the coupons on time, they should expire.

I can't even remember the reason why they made this shift in the first place. Something do with broadcasting bandwidth I'm sure...

[bobsticks]

Stuff

Punish people?

As a species we've come out of the cave, mastered fire and the atom, fjorded raging rivers and crossed the seas, put a man on the moon...it's forty freaking dollars. Shut that sum***** off and watch folks scramble. I, for one, would love to watch some ACLU lawyer try and argue in favor of people's right to watch television.

This ranks up there with "The Fairness in Media Doctrine" as yet another way to belittle the public.

[Feanor]

Good! It was a bad idea for government to mandate a technological advance that a large portion of Americans were not prepared for. In this instance, it would be better to let the technology set the pace, not government interference.

nightflier, I thought you were a progressive. Sometimes governments need to mandate things in the public interest. I presume they had somewhat valid reason doing it in the first place.

It's probably reasonable to ignore the voucher expiries and continue to issue them for awhile. The fact that the US gov has run out of funding for the $40 vouchers is bullsh!t. This must be view as liability of the government -- my creditors don't accept that I won't pay them because I've run out of funding.

I don't recall exactly what our governent is doing up here in the GWN, but the February deadline doesn't apply here. (O Kex, font of wisdom, do you happen to know?)

[E-Stat]

... about 7.8 million households or nearly 7 percent of people with TV's are completely unprepared for the deadline.

Since the legislation mandating the transition occurred over three years ago, this situation reminds me of all the folks who try to register to vote three days before an election and get their panties in a wad when they discover they've waited too late. Discrimination!

rw

[emaidel]

Since the legislation mandating the transition occurred over three years ago, this situation reminds me of all the folks who try to register to vote three days before an election and get their panties in a wad when they discover they've waited too late. Discrimination!

rw

That's the best response to this thread yet! The PR campaign for the upcoming changeover is unprecedented in its scope, yet there are still those 7 million folks who seemed to just look the other way, or ignore the situation altogether.

That the $40 credit from the government has run out (temporarily, I believe) is good enough reason to delay the transformation, but if it's people themselves not having paid attention to what's been in their faces now for over three years, that's another matter altogether.

I once rented an apartment that was going co-op. When the conversion plan arrived, several tenants created a Tenant Association that hired a lawyer to investigate the plan, and determine its fairness. This lawyer did an amazing job of taking a truly lousy plan, and turning it into a terrific one: Unfortunately, whenever a meeting was scheduled, only about 50 or so people turned up out of the 250 who were going to be affected. Once the deal was said and done, a final meeting took place to review what was forthcoming. Then the masses turned up, angry and yelling all over the place with, "I've got questions to ask!" and, "I never heard about this!" and other such nonsense.

I suspect much the same will be heard from those afffected by the changeover, no matter how much it's extended. Some people are just plain idiots.

[Mr Peabody]

Uh...., no, my post is the best, even if you do say so myself.

[mbbuchanan]

Why the hell not give every one a "free" box and then raise taxes 50 cents per check to recoup the dough?

[pixelthis]

Uh...., no, my post is the best, even if you do say so myself.

No its not, mine is, and here you go.
Like your typical liberal puke , excuse me, uninformed liberal puke, this thing he is proposing wont happen, the switch is being flipped.
AND to those of you who insist on being dragged kicking and screaming into the future...


tough cookies


Simply put, the bandwidth has already been SOLD.
The federales are bound to turn over these freaks, to not do so would cost BILLIONS
in fines, etc.
And Obama may , like most liberals, think hes above the law, but after paying the price for not turning over the freaks, the govt will be forced to turn them over anyway

As for you KEX I am surprized that you dont understand the importance of this.
Digital broadcasting has numerous advantages, including more channels for the one
bedroom walkup neon motel sign outside crowd.
Like RICHARD PRYOR said in the movie silver streak...
PAY THE MAN.
I pay 150+ a month for my media and modem, you will get no sympathy from me because your food stamps wont cover a 70 converter box.
Its not the end of the world.
THIS IS

[Mr Peabody]

Pix, again, an excellent display of tact. I'm sure that not everyone who uses OTA is not receiving food stamps.

Saying "liberals think they're above the law" after the actions of the outgoing administration is so hypocritical I am left without words to even fire on you with. Not to mention the Reagan years, or Nixon.

[kexodusc]

nightflier, I thought you were a progressive. Sometimes governments need to mandate things in the public interest. I presume they had somewhat valid reason doing it in the first place.

It's probably reasonable to ignore the voucher expiries and continue to issue them for awhile. The fact that the US gov has run out of funding for the $40 vouchers is bullsh!t. This must be view as liability of the government -- my creditors don't accept that I won't pay them because I've run out of funding.

I don't recall exactly what our governent is doing up here in the GWN, but the February deadline doesn't apply here. (O Kex, font of wisdom, do you happen to know?)

No clue...I know even less about Canadian broadcast regulations (other than I've developed a severe hate-on for the CRTC in the time I've been here)...Okay, I vaguely recall Canada had a later deadline to give its industry time to adjust and make sure the message got out. Prolly coulda done that by 2009 though.

[kexodusc]

Punish people?

As a species we've come out of the cave, mastered fire and the atom, fjorded raging rivers and crossed the seas, put a man on the moon...it's forty freaking dollars. Shut that sum***** off and watch folks scramble. I, for one, would love to watch some ACLU lawyer try and argue in favor of people's right to watch television.

This ranks up there with "The Fairness in Media Doctrine" as yet another way to belittle the public.

Fair enough...we're not talking about rights here. I'm not a fan of a $40 voucher - I've been forced to upgrade technologies by my cell phone provider, internet provider, power and water utilities, etc, this coulda been the same deal-eeo...but once the government made that decision, it does have an obligation to honor them, make sure everyone gets them in a timely fashion, and they should probably have come with more than a 90 day limit.

I asked my folks and my bro about these...they don't know anything about them but they don't need'em either. Were they mailed to everyone or just available on demand? My guess is a good chunk of the 13 million unused vouchers are owned by people that have new TV's, cable boxes and don't need'em....

Think this is a bit of compassion mixed with optics on Obama's part. If you asked everyone who they thought were most likely to be affected by this, I'm betting "seniors" and "the poor" would be high on the list. Who wants to be the President that turned TV off on either of those groups in middle of a recession?

[Ajani]

I say turn it off any way. It's not like it's a pacemaker. If Obama's for education, going without TV for a span may be a good thing.

Ummm.... I see your point, but I think many of you are forgetting something:

TV is not just for watching comedies, sports and porn.... some people get all their NEWS from the TV.... that was the reason I saw cited as why Obama's team wants to delay the process.... they don't want to leave parts of America without access to local and national News.... If it was just a matter of a few hillbillies missing the current episode of Lost, they'd probably just make the switch and be done with it...

[Mr Peabody]

C'mon Kex, you know it takes a bit longer for the Mounty's to spread info up there.

Yes, the vouchers were available upon the asking. Why would you order one if you weren't planning to use it within 90 days? I think that is enough time. They shouldn't be asking for them if they couldn't use it at the time. I wonder though if they dated them the day they went out in the mail or if a bunch was printed with a date. That would be a different story if you received a 90 day voucher and only a week was left.

[Mr Peabody]

Ummm.... I see your point, but I think many of you are forgetting something:

TV is not just for watching comedies, sports and porn.... some people get all their NEWS from the TV.... that was the reason I saw cited as why Obama's team wants to delay the process.... they don't want to leave parts of America without access to local and national News.... If it was just a matter of a few hillbillies missing the current episode of Lost, they'd probably just make the switch and be done with it...

Yeah, I forgot, because of Pix's conservatives cutting back on wasteful spending like education in lieu of important stuff like over throwing other countries we now have people that are illiterate and can no longer read a newspaper or see no need to go to a library any more. Their radio may work though.

[Ajani]

Yeah, I forgot, because of Pix's conservatives cutting back on wasteful spending like education in lieu of important stuff like over throwing other countries we now have people that are illiterate and can no longer read a newspaper or see no need to go to a library any more. Their radio may work though.

Yep, sadly too many are illiterate, so newspaper is not an option and they may or may not have a working radio....

For people like most (or maybe all) of us on this site, we can: a) easily afford the $40 b) read - so that means internet and newspapers are other options for the news c) have or can afford to buy a working radio...

[02audionoob]

Although Pix's conservatives might have their priorities misplaced, spending more on coups than education didn't deny our nation's illiterates the right to learn to read. It's embarrassing that the illiteracy numbers are so high and that the USA's schools are low on the global totem pole, but the federal government couldn't have corrected that if they tried. There's something just basically different in our society. Go to south Texas where the illiteracy numbers are high and ask someone born and raised on the farms how important they think it is. The answer will not be what you'd hope.

[Luvin Da Blues]

C'mon Kex, you know it takes a bit longer for the Mounty's to spread info up there.

Bawawawawawa, maybe the Canadian government should issue $40 coupons to so we can all upgrade from horses to autos.

[kexodusc]

C'mon Kex, you know it takes a bit longer for the Mounty's to spread info up there.

Yes, the vouchers were available upon the asking. Why would you order one if you weren't planning to use it within 90 days? I think that is enough time. They shouldn't be asking for them if they couldn't use it at the time. I wonder though if they dated them the day they went out in the mail or if a bunch was printed with a date. That would be a different story if you received a 90 day voucher and only a week was left.

Okay, better informed now, I'm a bit angry. If people are stupid enough to order a voucher and let it expire, that's their own stupid fault. If they order it and it's late getting to them, or the program ran out of money, that's different.

[pixelthis]

Yeah, I forgot, because of Pix's conservatives cutting back on wasteful spending like education in lieu of important stuff like over throwing other countries we now have people that are illiterate and can no longer read a newspaper or see no need to go to a library any more. Their radio may work though.

MY conservatives?
I am a libertarian mr pee pee, figure out the diff between the two(its huge)
The one justification of govt is regulation of commerce, this is clearly in their perveiw.
THEY FIRST STARTED formulating HD in 1988, DTV was an outgrowth.
ITS OVER TWENTY YEARS NOW, TIME TO CUT THE CORD.
A converter is 45 bucks, gives you a better picture.
ITS TIME, time to MOVE THE FRACK ON.
If you dont like it or dont want to pay 45$, dont want to pay for anything you can get out of, you go to the library to rent DVD's, fine.
Sit in walmart and watch your "TV".

[BradH]

Wait a minute, something doesn't add up. 14 million coupons expired and they still ran out of money? WTF??

I always knew this was going to be one huge cluster. It just had to be. The coupon deal just makes it worse. Sure, regulation of the broadcast frequencies is paid for by tax dollars so, in that sense, citizens do actually have a right to access the airwaves. But tax dollars fund regulation of all the airwaves. So, am I entitled to a coupon for a police scanner? Since when do citizens have a right to hardware? I don't buy the illiteracy argument either, it's a nonsensical extreme postiion. (If you're talking to a farmworker in south Texas you'd better be bilingual.) As for the poor, they can get their news from the newspapers and be better informed for it. TV journalism is about entertainment and nothing else. You want the weather? There's this new thing called a radio...

It's not as if anyone's going to suffer an information blackout. Rather, they're going to experience an entertainment brown out.

[nightflier]

Feanor,

I may be a progressive, but with moderation, my friend. I would rather let technology companies set the pace of change than let a sudden, and thus much more disruptive, switch do it overnight. There are enough examples in our history where a sudden change mandated by an overzealous government has caused more hardship than if the change was allowed to happen more slowly. Granted, corporations have also been guilty of this, but the real problem is with how sudden the change occurs. Society doesn't take kindly to that. Kind of like the difference between yelling fire in a crowded theater or asking people to leave calmly - surely we all agree that that second option will result in less problems all around.

Yes, I hear the chaos-mongers here screaming for someone to just flip the switch. But the fact is that they have either already purchased a digital medium or have the means to do without. If we were talking about something that would have the same result but would affect them too - something like a national day without power for example, they'd be reaching for their shotguns and raising the flag of rebellion yelling "Not on my watch!" Let's face it, very few of us are capable of turning off our TVs and stereos for a whole day. For the poor folks in South Texas, Appalachia, Indian Reservations, the inner cities, and our forgotten rural America, the TV is the stereo, the HT, and the entirety of the entertainment system; and they don't spend $150 a month on it, they get it OTA. Flipping the switch for this large underrepresented population will probably not be good for anyone.

Now, with that said, we're talking about TV, here. Mr. P brings up a good point that a day without it could be good for all of us and I would probably support such a proposal. But that ignores the wishes & fears of the broadcasters, the advertisers, and also our government. They all have their reasons for keeping people off the streets and captive to their consumerist pitches. Let's not forget that the biggest, most wasteful consumers in our society are also our poorest and least educated masses. Yes the upper crust buys up a lot or higher-priced goods, but the largest numbers of small, consumable, and low-quality goods and services are purchased by the poorer, less educated masses, and that stuff is hawked on the boob-tubes of America. It's not the "news" that the corporations and government want people to continue to receive from their programming, but the commercials in between the news. Commercials serve two purposes: they create demand for goods and services and they stupefy the viewers to keep watching in their homes.

I distinctly remember the last time we had rolling black-outs here in SoCal. I saw more people on the streets during those times than I ever saw before - it was almost surreal. Now imagine the same thing, but this time it's just the poor uneducated masses roaming the streets. Think the government wants that? Think businesses want that? No, not really. If you then also add to that the charged political climate with all the McCain supporters representing the vast majority of these folks (kind of funny how that works out, huh?). Many of these folks (Pix, this is you) having stocked up on guns and bullets in the last few months, and you throw in the unemployment numbers, the homeless, a couple of strikes, a demonstration or two (SAG, Teamsters, Pro-Israel/Pro-Palestine, whatever), and then just for good measure you toss in a controversial police shooting in SF, and you have the makings of a real problem. We can go even further, if you like: the National Guard is deployed on the other side of the globe, states can't afford to pay police officers, firefighters, and ambulance drivers, and for an extra little bit of spice we'll inaugurate the first black president in history.

Oh, trust me, there's a whole lot of people who would much rather have that old reliable opiate in place to keep people glued to their TVs. Let's admit, that all of us also would prefer that. Well maybe not Pix, but he's special.