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Obama Recommends Delay In Digital TV Switch
gregg writes "Six weeks before the nation's television stations are scheduled to convert to digital transmission, the Obama administration is asking Congress to consider a delay. In the most significant sign to date of concern about the impending digital TV transition, the Obama transition team co-chair John Podesta said the government funds to support the change are 'woefully inadequate' and said that the digital switch date, Feb. 17, should be 'reconsidered and extended.'"
I personally know one person who only uses their antenna, and they mostly watch DVDs anyway. I know some people are pretty bad off, but if you are that concerned about television you should be able to drop $40 on a converter box and not have the government pay for it.
Given the state of broadcast television, I can't say blacking some people out wouldn't do them a favor. Okay, you need to get a convertor box and you may have to wait to get one, but if we encourage people in the meantime to read a book, go to the library, use the computer there and read the news and so on, that's bad? Really?
I mean, I'm scared that people think that TV is that much of a requirement. Local news is nice and all, sure, but you can make do.
What about all the people that have already bought equipment and are waiting for the stations to go full power with DV? What about all of the stations who have spent tons of money and time gearing up for the switch? In my city (Denver) we have a large new tower built for broadcasting HD, and part of the promise to the residents of the area was that after the switch happened the old towers (and associated problems with them broadcasting) would go away. If you let this linger another year or two they are kind of screwed.
It's going to have to happen sometime, it might as well be now. Yes it sucks that the coupon program is underfunded (the web site you use to get coupons says they are out of money, so no more coupons are to be had), so make it a priority to get coupons out to those in rural areas much less likely to have cable or satellite already.
You just can't decide at the last moment to pull the rug out from under what is a useful technical move forward. There has to be some continuity between what government says will happen and what actually happens, or all dissolves to chaos as government promises are further devalued.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe its just me not being poor or actually liking cable, but is OTA TV really that pervasive these days?
Yeah. I've been using OTA television for years. I'm not going to pay for crap I don't want.
PBS is great and should continue to be able to deliver their service free of charge. Especially for the underprivileged.
Don't get me wrong though, I think the change is a good one, but I think the converter boxes should be cheaper.
What if radio changed and you had to purchase converters for every radio you own or they would be useless?
There will be riots on street, if millions of low income homes are out of TV.
No, seriously.
Why is the government pushing digital. It is not for the clearer image. It is because it takes less airspace, and you can free and resell a lot of the airspace.
However that said. Delaying this isn't really going to help anything. Most Americans either don't watch TV (perhaps playing movies) or have cable or satellite hooked up. The largest group effected is the Sr. Citizens. Who are not much effected by the economy (minus the ones with good 401k) but for the most part the pain going digital will be the same today as it will be next year.
Besides there is no important information that you can get on TV that you cant get via the Radio. You may actually get it faster via the radio.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
There are several shows that are in HD and are not compressed. My dad is a digital cable subscriber but still switches to OTA when the show is available because cable has so many compression artifacts. I use OTA only but I am a hold-out. I just hate paying for programming that contains ads. I mean, isn't that what the ads are for?
"Long time listener, first time caller."
It seems to me that anyone that hasn't received a coupon by now is just going to wait until the next deadline. Wasn't analog supposed to go off the air in 2006? Enough delays already, time to just rip the bandaid off.
My UID is prime... is yours?
The switch was already supposed to happen years ago, but they delayed things back then for the same reason. Should we delay forever and waste a huge amount of spectrum on an ancient broadcasting mechanism?
I think the program is out of money because a lot of people who don't even need coupons are getting them - my guess is that probably half of the people at least do not understand that if they have cable they don't need a different box.
There's still more than a month til the switch, time enough to sort out who really needs help and help them.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
After all, the spectrum that TV uses have already being partly sold. Wouldn't Verizon, et. al. be rather annoyed about this development?
I don't even need my two [coupons], but picked them up anyways.
Uhh, I think they ran out of money because they have allocated it all towards coupons that have been distributed, but haven't been redeemed or expired.
In other words, you (and those like you) are part of the reason the program has run out of funding.
([coupons] assumed based on your post. If you meant [converter boxes], blowing taxpayer money and carbon dioxide for two pieces of junk to sit in your garage is equally foolish.)
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
I would bet money that in six months, the converter boxes will be cheaper. Why sell your box for $25 when you can tack on an extra $25 and expect people to use a coupon?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
I think it's only fair for those who can't get the help transitioning, to be able to have extra time to switch over.
What about all the companies who bought licenses for those frequencies and would now have to wait until it becomes politically acceptable? I don't think they would approve the government changing their contracts.
... and that's when the C.H.U.D.'s came at me.
Why should the government still be obligated to assist everyone at this stage in the game? The coupon program dried up; tough noogies, you've only had nearly a year to apply for one. If you needed the discount that badly, then you should have taken 2 minutes to apply earlier. And if you can't muster up the cash to rub two 20's together, your ability to watch television should not be anywhere on your radar at the moment.
Beh
In a down economy?
Expect a lot more people to be ditching cable and satellite.
US Population - Cable Subscribers - Satellite subscribers means
households watch TV over the air exclusively.
How many of those people live in area which do not get a good signal.
How many of these people just don't watch TV.
How many of these people don't have TV or a Working TV.
How many already have the converter.
How many have a TV that doesn't need a convert.
How many will get one later this month.
Numbers don't lie. But they are quite vague.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Another one here. After finding cable signals are worse than OTA, I downgraded cable package (I get discounted rate for bundling with Internet service any way). OTA digital has many interesting channels not on cable.
It's also why our current healthcare system sucks. Regardless of whether people are paying a copay to the government or to the insurance company, they are still shielded from the actual cost of service and have no incentive to shop around.
Which, by the way, is a succinct explanation of why socialized medicine sucks.
That's the theory. Kind of strange that it's the US's supposedly free-market healthcare system that has the reputation of being horrendously expensive, poor value for money and for tying people to jobs with large corporations- via their health plans- if they want anything like decent insurance at acceptable prices. (Either that or take the risk of bankrupting themselves if they get ill.)
(I suppose you're going to blame medicare for dragging down a system that would otherwise be free-market sweetness and perfection?)
Socialised healthcare is far from perfect, and undoubtedly has some problems. I'm also sure that the US system has some better corner cases, and saves you a bit on your taxes. Even so, I'm pretty certain which one I'd rather take my chances with overall.
Disclaimer: I don't live in the US, and haven't got any plans to, so I'm quite happy for you to have whatever healthcare system you want. It just doesn't look like much of a poster boy to me right now.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
If it takes a Porsche to motivate you through med school, then I don't want you as a doctor anyway. Much smarter people work for a lot less in non-medical fields.
Ummm... This could be a very, very, slow and deliberate 4 years until the next election.
Gently reply
There's a lot of warning for the upcoming switch. It's not like OTA is being pulled, it's being shifted.
If you let people slide another few years, people will simply not be ready the NEXT time the switch comes along. People will never be ready, so you have to actually be ready to make the switch against some resistance and then people will be motivated to actually switch.
People are highly motivated to get TV, and so I don't think the switch will have as much power over even the poor as you think it will. When people are motivated, they figure out a way - coupon or no.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Just like the insurance-companies do now? What's the difference?
-rozzin.
That's 1/2 of the theory, the moral hazard half. The evidence suggests that insurance will increase consumption, primarily outpatient services. However, the people that love to point this out usually leave out another issue, adverse selection. Essentially sick people will tend to purchase better coverage, which will drive the cost of that coverage up until it's unaffordable. These leads to two issues: 1. Sick people will be unable to afford insurance, and 2. Insurance companies will spend a lot of money screening customers for "prior conditions". Does this sound familiar?
/rant
The jury's still out on exactly why the US healthcare sector is so much more expensive (as % of GDP) than everyone else, but the increased administrative costs created by the US' unique insurance market (other countries have private insurers, but place rules on turning people away, etc...) is a likely suspect of a significant part of the difference.
The free market is a tool not an ideology. Remember, a free market is not a market free of government intervention, but one free from barriers. Moral hazard and adverse selection are two of many barriers present in the health insurance market and the government didn't put them there, so blindly keeping the government out of insurance will not magically make the health insurance market free.
AFAIK, there are lots and lots of people who would very much like to go to med school, but aren't admitted because the medical industry wants to maintain the artificial shortage of doctors so they can keep gouging us. I don't think there'd ever be a shortage for lack of interest.
How about rather than delaying the switch to digital broadcasts we do the switch on time and if you don't have a converter box already, and didn't get a coupon yet, just make the people who procrastinated send in a mail in rebate rather than receiving a coupon. Perhaps that's an oversimplification but I'd rather the government spend a few extra dollars processing rebates than have the digital broadcast deadline extended yet again.
What I don't understand is how Americans can afford to buy a $30,000 SUV every five years (totaling ~$300,000 spent over a lifetime), and yet for some reason they lack the money to pay a $6000 medical bill.* It appears they have their priorities messed up, because they are wasting their cash on foolish car purchases instead of saving it for health.
If you can afford to waste thousands on cars and other purchases, then you can also afford the occasional medical bill.
*
* How much my niece spent for a recent kidney operation.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Dump the insurance and just pay cash. It's cheaper in the long-run, and takes advantage of the fact that nearly-all people don't get a serious illness until after age 60.
It's silly to waste thousands on insurance when you're still young and healthy & more likely to get hit with an asteroid than fall victim to a mortal illness. (Okay I exaggerated a bit, but you get my point.)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Except that it isn't a free-market health care system -- at least not 50% of it. About half the money spent in health care is Federal/State money.
And that's what drives up prices. You have the private sector competing with the public sector for finite health care resources.
Dump the insurance and just pay cash. It's cheaper in the long-run, and takes advantage of the fact that nearly-all people don't get a serious illness until after age 60.
Small comfort to those who suffer a stroke or heart attack or cancer at younger ages.
It's silly to waste thousands on insurance when you're still young and healthy & more likely to get hit with an asteroid than fall victim to a mortal illness. (Okay I exaggerated a bit, but you get my point.)
You'd think with odds like that a competitive free market insurance industry would be falling over themselves to insure young healthy people for low annual premiums... care to speculate on the fact that they don't?
My theory is that you are simply mistaken.
"Breaking" everyone's analog TV is going to be controversial enough. But to time it to happen right after a new president is inaugurated? Forget that this changeover has been in the works forever, who is Joe Blow going to blame? I don't blame the Obama administration for wanting to postpone it a bit.
I've help my friend out all the time. This is something where le gov, who made $20bil off this largely unpopular move, was supposed to step in and help the people out. If it comes to it, I can get him a converter box. Doesn't change the fact this is bullshit.
The enemies of Democracy are
I think this is point is not being emphasized enough. What digital you can get OTA even today is not representative of what you will get after Feb 17. Many stations are not running their digital at full power and others have translators that are not switching until the transition. In my area, geography (i.e. foothills) makes translators essential even for analog, so stations who haven't switched their translators are really hard to get.
Yeah, but, I wouldn't want one of them cutting me open and messing around with my internals...or drilling my teeth to fix them.
Yeah...Dr's make a good living these days, but not nearly what they did generations past...bean counters and insurance are the culprits these days. Not to mention, a Dr. is schooled a long time....racks up a TON of loan debt, etc....so, say your a surgeon. YOu start working..it is years before you pay loans off and really start to make serious money that is yours. And, your working career is limitsd...once you start getting older and all....well, shaky hands and bad eyesight don't help you, so you gotta make a lot of money in a short period of time. It isn't all sunshine and kittens. Lots of call...odd and long hours, and time away from families...
Sewing Timmy up after a fall isn't just a 9 to 5 job you know...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I live in Southwest Missouri, OTA TV is very popular here. Unfortunately, because of the terrain, people who can receive analog broadcasts are often unable to receive digital broadcasts.
My parents, who really aren't excited about the switch, can receive 5 channels via analog. Hook up a converter box and they still get 5 channels, only problem is 3 of those are PBS. I would really like to see more thought put into issues like this before the switch is made.
As for the popularity, we live in an area that frequently sees power outages due to thunderstorm/tornadic weather. I have an excellent little 3" battery powered TV that I have relied on for information during severe weather. After Feb 17, I'm out of luck.
If it takes a Porsche to motivate you through med school, then I don't want you as a doctor anyway. Much smarter people work for a lot less in non-medical fields.
It's got nothing to do with wanting a Porsche and I'm rather disappointed that the herd gave you a +5 for that remark. Do you have any idea of the amount of student loan debt that the typical med student has by the time they finish with medical school? Do you have any idea how much malpractice insurance costs?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
2 things
first $6000 for an operation? hah! not in the usa. I had a friend pay $2500 for a 10-minute cat scan that just happened to not be covered by his insurance. Operations are *always* in the tens of thousands of dollars, even the simple ones.
second, you are talking about two different segments of american society. People who buy $30,000 suvs tend to also have health insurance. We're talking about the lower middle class who buy reasonable mid-size cars and for whom paying $10,000+ per year in just insurance is tough. (that's the norm, including employer contribution) And as the other poster mentions, this is really bankruptcy protection in case that operation is a little more complicated than expected.
Not really, the emergency broadcast system goes over the air for a reason. If something happens and the cable provider goes down, unless you have a ASTC tuner, you get nothing, no reports that the flood is coming closer to your house, no reports that the Storm that knocks the poles over severing your cable has produced Tornadoes coming at you or hail the size of softballs- nothing at all. There was a propane leak at a facility near where I live. Someone over filled a large tank and it started venting in the heat of the day, someone attempted to move it and bumped into another causing two venting systems. Long story short, the evacuation came over the broad cast stations before the police and fire could go door to door and evacuate everyone. If cable was down, they could have lit up and really lit up or something.
I means if that shit isn't important, then why are we wasting out money on it? It's completely different then a T1 or internet. The government didn't set up an EMERGENCY WARNING system on the internet. They set it up for over the air broadcast which got carried to cable systems.
Did he get a coupon or not?
If he did, its not $40. If he did not, whats your point?
I think the asshat who knows nothing of poverty, would be YOU.
Poverty is not having FOOD TO EAT.
Poverty is collecting scrap wood to keep yourself warm in the winter.
Poverty is not knowing if the next drink of water you have will be safe.
Poverty IS NOT sitting down at home and relaxing in front of a over the air TV. You are a fucking idiot.
They are. They've been running commercials for two years talking about the switch and how to get a break on a box. One of the OTA channels I watch has a bar going across the top of the channel ever y five minutes talking about the switch. The only people that don't knoww about this switch probably don't watch TV.
...is because he's afraid people won't be able to watch his infomercials during the 2012 election campaign.
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
Y2K was a joke.
Yes, it was so hilarious that my company** spent more than five years and millions of pounds preparing for it.
I changed some of the code in critical systems myself and it was really funny, the way it would have failed massively and bought the entire UK rail network to a standstill if we hadn't fixed it.
If you think I'm bullshitting, read up on TOPS (total operations processing system - it's in Wikipedia), which tracks the real-time location of every train in the UK. Then consider that the core code for this was written in the 1960's/early 70's, used excusively 2-digit years and is absolutely riddled with date/timestamp comparisons. And that the rail system can run for a maximum of about 4 hours without accurate TOPS data.
** Actually part of British Rail at the time
This is *not* an isolated example. All the major financial institutions would have been in similar serious shit if they hadn't fixed their core systems, for example.
I am *so fucking fed up* of people who know nothing saying that the Y2K problem didn't exist and wasn't serious (yes, and I do also know that some people overhyped it - e.g. the effect on embedded systems, most of which didn't know/care what the day/year was etc.)
I decided to dump the cable company, and the television/DVR for that matter, and get a EyeTV and a decent antenna for my MacBook. I basically just watch PBS and news anyway, and download movies and TV shows from iTunes. It's not cheap, but I also spend a lot of time out of the country, so for me it makes sense. I'm in a semi-urban area of Philadelphia, so I figured the reception when I'm back in town should be good.
The digital picture looks fantastic, when it works, but it doesn't degrade well at all. Once the signal quality drops below a certain threshold the content becomes rapidly unwatchable. In my experience, even on strong stations I'd inevitably get dropouts, on average every 5 or 10 minutes, where I'd just lose all picture and audio for a second or more. This could be environmental changes, interference, or whatever. Frankly, I don't think digital switch-overs are going to go well anywhere because of this.
With analog TV, you would just tolerate snow or ghosts, but with digital TV if you don't meet some threshold signal level and the tuner loses the key frames, you're hosed. A complete dropout of picture and sound is a horrible user experience. And I'm in a semi-urban area. What about rural viewers?
So to those supporting a fast switch to digital, good luck...