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US House Kills Proposed Delay For Digital TV Transition

Posted by timothy on from the very-little-soup-for-you dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Digital TV transition delay bill has failed to pass the United States House of Representatives. By a vote 258 to 168 in favor of changing the date, the bill has failed as two-thirds of the votes are required for it to pass. The delay bill was once perceived as inevitable, [but the House] has now apparently made February 17th the date of transition once again. Now the question remains, will they attempt to pass it again by the deadline?"

10 of 664 comments (clear)

  1. Who cares? by __aagmrb7289 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What's the big deal, anyway? I'm wondering if I just don't understand something about how this is going down.

    1. Re:Who cares? by hansamurai · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Senate wants to allow procrastinators to procrastinate even longer, House doesn't.

      --
      Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
    2. Re:Who cares? by DrVomact · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I got fucked by this crappy legislation.

      How come you feel that the government owes you a converter box in the first place? You don't have to watch TV. (In fact, I don't know why anyone would want to, but that's a separate issue.) Watching TV is not necessary for your well-being. You obviously have a computer, or access to one, so you can get your news off the internet, or that old-fashioned thing called "radio". (NPR actually does a pretty good job of reporting the news ever since the Republicans spanked them back in the 80s).

      So, why does the government owe you a converter? If it weren't for the government, TV programs would have been exclusively digital before this. Maybe you have good reasons, and I'm missing something, but I'd like to hear what they are.

      --
      Great men are almost always bad men--Lord Acton's Corollary
    3. Re:Who cares? by afidel · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Because the government seized a public asset (the radio spectrum) and sold it to a private entity (the entertainment and telecommunications companies) and so they have some responsibility to make the public whole.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  2. Networks want to delay by TreyGeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In the Houston Chronicle this morning there was an interesting blurb about the delay. Basically, the networks want to delay the switch-over because they don't want it to happen in the middle of the season. They are afraid of losing viewers (and thus advertising dollars) from people who aren't ready for DTV. They'd rather wait until spring/summer when they are airing re-runs.

  3. Re:A simple answer by Rinisari · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One Subject at a Time Act by Downsize DC would prevent that!

    Call your Congresspeople and tell them to support it!

    --
    Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
  4. Re:It was a vote to suspend the rules by yincrash · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Seeing as the deadline is February 17th, any bumps make the chance of having the bill pass much smaller.

  5. Re:The amount of money.... by Jon_S · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "TV is the primary source of news for a large amount of people."

    That's sad. I'm a news junky, and I would never think of getting my news from the TV. They don't really have news there. Just infotainment and sensationalism. Seriously. Have you ever looked?

    Maybe PBS, but that's about it.

    If people are relying on TV for news, it might be good to make them read the newspaper if they haven't gotten a digital tuner yet.

    I don't have cable, but I doubt it's much better there based on what I've seen while staying in hotels. But in any event, we aren't talking about people who have cable since the DTV switch over doesn't apply to them.

  6. Hawaii already switched... what's the big deal? by leonbev · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hawaii already made the switch to digital TV on January 15th. I haven't heard any newa about their state having any major problems with this transition, so why are they making a big deal about this now?

  7. Ars Technical suggests that this is all a plot by Nyrath+the+nearly+wi · · Score: 3, Interesting
    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/01/4g-war-conflict-of-interests-loom-behind-possible-dtv-delay.ars

    Basically they are suggesting that the WiMax people are lobbying Congress to delay the switch to DTV.

    Their rival, Verizon, cannot deploy Verizon's 4G Long-Term Evolution wireless broadband network until the spectrum is freed up by the elimination of analog TV signals. The longer the delay, the more market penetration for WiMax, and the more trouble for Verizon.