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Senate Passes Another Bill To Delay Digital TV Transition

Posted by Soulskill on from the it's-almost-like-they're-worried dept.

An anonymous reader tips news that the US Senate has passed another bill to delay the transition to digital TV. This is the second such bill to pass the Senate; the first was narrowly defeated in the House. The new version has an important difference — it would allow the transition to take place gradually over the four-month period between the original transition date (February 17th) and the extended date (June 12th). TV stations around the country could choose when they wanted to make the change, allowing those who have already begun plans to stop analog transmission to continue their shut-down operations.

2 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, yeah, that'll work by russotto · · Score: 5, Informative

    Firstly, there's a pigeonhole problem here -- in order for some stations to take up their final digital frequency assignments, other stations will have to move theirs (usually back to their analog channel). This is one of the main reasons it was to be done all at once in the first place.

    Secondly, this is going to be even MORE confusing. OK, so the person living in a cave for the past few months who comes out turns on their TV on February 18 would have gotten nothing. But at least they'd have some clue that something is wrong. With a gradual transition, maybe they'll lose CBS but not NBC and Fox... then the next month they'll lose Fox but keep CBS, etc. That's not making things any simpler.

  2. Re:How much MORE is this costing us? by LurkerXXX · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Why is everyone entitled to a coupon?"

    Because the government sold a public resource, the airwaves, to private companies. The funds from that sale go to provide the money for the coupons.