Jan 16 2009
The Fight to Delay the Analog to Digital TV Switch
Democrats and President-Elect Obama have been working to try and delay the February 17 switchover from analog to digital TV. Apparently around 8 million people still haven’t bought the converter boxes they need to interpret those new digital signals, and 2 million people are on a waiting list for the government coupons that give them a discount on said converter boxes. This explains why the public service commercials about the switch seem to be airing every five minutes these days. Here I was thinking that anyone who didn’t live in a cave had to know about it already, but apparently they don’t.
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia proposed a bill to delay the switch over concerns that this sudden darkening of analog TV will completely cut off the poor, elderly, the disabled, and those with language barriers. Republican opponents fear that a delay will financially hurt the TV stations who are currently running two towers for the signals, and burden public services that are waiting for those older airwaves to free up for their use.
This is a difficult issue. I can see both sides of it, with masses of confused citizens unable to get information from TV news, or enjoy the programming that may be the only entertainment they can afford. On the other hand, this move has been planned for years, and it’s possible that in another few months, there will still be millions of people who still can’t, won’t, or don’t know to buy the converter boxes. Sometimes the only solution is a drastic one, because people will put off the inevitable until you literally pull the plug.
Read more on this issue at The New York Times and The Associated Press (via Google).
