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.'"

Comments

Really that big deal?

[ADRA]

Maybe its just me not being poor or actually liking cable, but is OTA TV really that pervasive these days?

Re:Really that big deal?

[Reality Master 101]

Sheesh. Why don't you try reading past the first line of my post?

Re:Really that big deal?

[commodore64_love]

>>>if you aren't donating, that's the same as stealing!

Yeah and if I don't donate, PBS will die.

Oh well.

What? PBS sucks. It's as anachronistic as long-distance passenger trains and horse-drawn carriages. Let it die. Discover, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Learning, and History channels are far more valuable and educational. And even though PBS runs some BBC shows like Red Dwarf or Blackadder those same shows can be bought, for less money, on DVD.

For example: My local PBS asked me to donate $100 to obtain Red Dwarf 8 for airing. Instead I bought the DVDs for $25. So in my opinion PBS is not worth supporting; I'd rather spend my money on DVDs and the aforementioned cable channels.

Great idea

[cdrguru]

Well, it would have been 9-12 months ago. Now, current broadcasters are in the final stages of switching over and some have even decreased signal strength on analog broadcasts in preparation.

One of the big problems - having a fringe-area television with a rooftop mast and rotator - is at that house we go from 4-5 channels to 1 digital one. Period. Now maybe we will get more when (if?) they increase the digital signal strength but it seems unlikely. Repeat this throughout the rural areas of the country and you will have a significant impact on television watching.

The problem is, 30 days out from the switchover is a little too late to delay it. People have made their peace with the transition one way or another. For my house it will absolutely be cable or nothing. How many rural TV owners have already decided they can just do without? Especially after seeing what dismal results a converter box gives them.

Sure in cities there may be a lot more people with analog TVs that need get a converter box, and the idea the government was going to buy them for people sort of fell down. The government was never going to put out the kind of money it would really take to do that, and it was fairly obvious early on. A better approach might have been for the current advertisers to pay a tax to keep viewers watching.

What happens in February? My guess is that there is a slight shift in ad demographics and it is all for the worse for advertisers. Not exactly the sort of thing that will do any good in the current economic situation because for these advertisers increased spending isn't going to help. What will the real impact of more-or-less ceasing OTA television be in the US? Not sure, but I do not see this as an overall good move.

OTA television provided a certain cultural foundation for the last 50-60 years or so. You could more or less count on people watching certain popular shows. Without free OTA television it will fragment the culture more and provide less common experiences to share between people. We will further retreat to our own (smaller) cultural worlds and have less in common with our neighbors and coworkers. The Internet fosters this kind of isolationism. Good thing? It is if you are all about "diversity" and seeing no point to having any common ground with your neighbors. Chatting with people half a world away online isn't the same thing.