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US Digital TV Switchover Delayed Until June

Posted by samzenpus on from the we'll-do-it-later dept.

necro81 writes "The Delay DTV Act was passed first by the Senate, now by the House, and will be signed by the President. The hard cutoff for turning off analog TV broadcasts in the US has been pushed out to June 12th. The act had earlier failed to gain a 2/3rds majority in the House, but passed this afternoon with a simple majority. The bill allows stations to cease analog transmissions at any point between Feb 17th (the old cutoff) and June 12th, and many have signaled they will do so."

14 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Deja vu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In June, you'll find that there are many people who have not bought digital receivers for their televisions. June is the new February.

    1. Re:Deja vu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      In June, you'll find that there are many people who have not bought digital receivers for their televisions. June is the new February.

      Actually, most TV stations are still going to do the change on Feb 17th as planned. The bill just gives them the option to delay out until June.

      Disclaimer, I work for a cable provider, and ALL of our market affiliates have already told us they are going to change on the 17th as planned.

      So basically this bill was a waste of time. Ten years from now, people will still be pulling out old TV's and wondering why they don't work.

    2. Re:Deja vu by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No. Because of the transition, Sweeps was moved from February to March 5.

      My dad thinks the delay is great, and he hopes Congress will suddenly decide to cancel Digital television completely. Well, he is approaching 80, so maybe he's not thinking straight. Today he said to me, "Just watch, in two more years they'll stop broadcast completely and make us all upgrade to cable. The politicians love to screw us."

      According to the Nielsen Ratings Company, only 5% of households are not ready. So we postponed this switch for a measly 5% of the nation. Pathetic. ----- The other 95% already have access to cable, dish, or a DTV converter box. Here in Pennsylvania, the FCC placed the estimate at 99% ready! What the heck are we waiting for???

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:Deja vu by hedwards · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's worse than that, due to the proviso that channels may change on their own at any time after Feb 17th, we now have a situation where nobody really knows when the switch is going to happen.

      The same people that were still not aware that it was going to happen this month, are going to be caught even more off guard when channels switch over in a random fashion.

      I cannot imagine how this is good news for anybody.

    4. Re:Deja vu by Golias · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm wondering why so many commenters think it's so bad that the switch is delayed?

      Let me count the ways.

      1. Not having all broadcasters switch at once is going to be a confounding mess, even for those of us who have already switched. I'm currently using a big UHF-only antenna that I've been relying on for the last two years, because the current pre-switch digital signal is weak and UHF only. Post-switch, some broadcasters are moving their digital signal to VHF and all of them were going to be boosting the signal. Now, with the VHF band still tied up as some (but not all) migrate, there are likely to be days when NOBODY can tune in every channel with a single antenna/tuner combination. Yuck!

      2. A good chunk of the freed-up bandwidth was meant to be used by emergency responders, who have made a significant investment in equipment which will now collect dust for six months.

      3. A lot of businesses have started up with the plan of buying/leasing former analog VHF bandwidth. These companies now must sit on ice for six more months and pray that they don't go belly-up before they even get a chance to open.

      4. Of the 5 percent that are not ready, most of them will still not "get ready" before June. Losing your TV signal for a little while is not the end of the world, and having their screens go to static is probably exactly what it takes to get them off the couch and waddling down to the store to pick up a cheap converter.

      5. Local broadcasters are in a bind, because their business plans didn't call for six more months of sending two signals, but if they do take the option of switching on the 17th, they risk losing customers.

      6. Current digital signals are so week, that outer-ring "exurbs" in most metro areas can't consistently tune them in. During the switch DTV signals are expected to become a lot more powerful, making the broadcasts much more widely available... but if everything is not switched at once it's going to mean that those communities will lose some of their analog signals before the digital signal is strong enough to reach them. They go dark because a handful of people were too lazy to take advantage of a converter coupon. It's idiotic.

      Anything else you are wondering about?

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  2. Confusion by daveywest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reason for the date change: a bunch of elderly and poor TV viewers are confused about the switchover.

    The result: now everyone is confused.

    President O, aren't there more important things for you to be working on?

    1. Re:Confusion by daveywest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Before today's vote, only 6% of the population was confused by the changeover according to Neilson Media. That means you reached 94% of the population.

      94% comprehension is a pretty good result.

      I can only imagine how many people are going to be confused by a slow, staggered changeover instead of the solid Feb. 17 deadline. Its kind of like ripping off a band aid on a hairy arm. Its a lot more painful if you do it slowly.

  3. Many stations switchin anyway... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All the stations in my area have already announced they're going Digital Feb 17th no matter what. Electricity for those analog towers isn't cheap. I've heard of some markets that have already turned off their analog. Instead of one huge cut off, it'll more than likely be a trickle of stations until June.

    I did like the suggestion I saw last time this came up about making it go B&W for 90 days prior to the switch. Although I personally thought it would be more motivating if you cut off the last 10 minutes of an hour long show with a spoof of Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

    It's Digital TV time, Digital TV time, Digital TV time

    (Chorus:)
    Where the show at 4x
    There it go 4x
    Digital TV 4x
    Do the Digital TV, Digital TV,
    Digital TV with a digital converter 2x

    1. Re:Many stations switchin anyway... by BorgAssimilator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I applaud those stations. The confusion coming from the government is _not_ being fair to the television stations.

      --
      "Intelligence has nothing to do with politics!"
      -Londo Mollari
  4. Washington comes together... by korney · · Score: 5, Funny

    Washington comes together, bails out the bunny ear industry.

    1. Re:Washington comes together... by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      http://goreadgreen.com/
      Sign up for playboy or other magazines (zinio version) for free for 1 year with just your email address.

      Sign up for tons using the dot.ted.add.ress@gmail.com trick, and use them on your single zinio account.

  5. Screw the protesters by HornWumpus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What are they going to do vote the head of the FCC out? (the FCC head is appointed).

    People with time on their hands to protest are generally useless anyhow. The fact they haven't gotten it together to prepare for the switch reinforces that for me.

    I hope they are going to compensate the new owners of the bandwidth for the delay.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  6. In other news... by RockMFR · · Score: 5, Funny

    Trials for Gitmo prisoners delayed until they are no longer a threat to the United States.

    Paying back the national debt delayed until someone can force us to do so.

    Fixing social security delayed until Baby Boomers die.

    Puppy for Obama children delayed until after the next election.

  7. Re:Money Confusion by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As an early adopter I want to correct some myths:

    - Yes initially the boxes were rare, however by April 2008 the stores & online retailers were filled with tons of boxes. "I can't found one" is a pisspoor excuse.

    - No the initial boxes were not crap. Zenith boxes were available as early as February 2008, and most folks at avsforum.com say it's the best box you can buy. People like me who bought a Zenith were not screwed.

    - Right now stores are overflowing with boxes, and even so ~50% of coupon holders don't use them. Why are half of people applying for coupons they never intend to use? It makes no sense.

    - Even without a coupon, you can buy a $40 box from dtvpal.com or a $50 box from Kmart. That's not much more expensive than taking the family to a restaurant, and if you can afford that, then you can afford a box.

    - According to Nielsen, only 5% are unprepared and they are largely teens and 20-somethings who probably don't watch TV and therefore don't care. They are spending their dollars on new forms of entertainment like the internet.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall