Nomad was right again with his prediction that the congress would delay the digital television change over. The Senate voted unanimously last night to delay the change over until June. Television stations will be allowed to change if they are ready, but will not be forced to until June. One of the main factors is that the Coupon program to help Americans buy digital converter boxes has run out of money, so this will give congress time to reallocate money to that fund. It will be interesting to see if this changeover happens this year.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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5 comments:
[Insert smug grin here.]
Honestly, I doubt it will happen this year. Again, there is no TECHNICAL or EXTERNAL reason to go digital. The entire push is political, because Congress was hoping to see an economic bump from selling of DTVs and Hollywood was hoping to be able to lock down digital recording of their movies. Without a technical reason to switch, why bother being dogmatic about it.
Especially in a down economy, when people can't afford to upgrade to DTVs. The converters are technically a stopgap, but all they do is rub it in that YOU can't have a snazzy HDTV and your neighbor does.
Once again, the government is caving in to those people who have ignored the Public service anouncements about the digital transition. These people have had 3 extra years to upgrade their equipment. If they are not ready now, they NEVER will be. The only way to get people moving on this transition, and allocate those analog channels to public safety applications, is to shut off the analog signals.
I suspect that this transition will happen this year. There is a financial incentive for the government from the sale of the bandwidth as well as for those who buy the bandwidth. Plus if it doesn't happen there will be a lot of people confused and upset about all the PSAs We've gone too far on this track to turn around or full stop now.
I feel sorry for those who find it a financial burden to upgrade or go to a TV service (cable or satellite). Also for those who are technologically challenged and for whom even the addition of a converter box is a daunting thought. I know you younger folk, who have been brought up with technology, cannot imagine it, but many are still intimidated by anything harder than turning the unit on.
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