DTV Delay Act shot down by House of Representatives

Today the US House of Representatives voted down a bill that would have postponed the DTV transition scheduled for February 17. The DTV Delay Act, which passed the Senate on Monday, would have allowed broadcasters to continue analog TV broadcasts until the middle of June.

Even though the delay President Obama wants appears to be dead, there may still be action on the way in the form of an alternative bill introduced earlier this week. This alternative legislation would provide an additional $250 million to the program which provides vouchers for DTV converters.

Currently there's a waiting list for vouchers and none can be sent out until either existing vouchers expire without being used or additional funding is approved.

One thing this new legislation doesn't do that they DTV Delay Act would have is authorize the replacement of expired vouchers. But it's still possible similar language could be added with an amendment.

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 28 Jan 2009 14:39

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10 comments

pirkster

"Allowed" them to broadcast until June, or FORCED them to broadcast in analog until June?

One of the biggest reasons this idea was opposed is because it would have forced broadcasters to extend analog transmissions past when they've already planned to switch over. Not only would they have been forced to eat the cost of broadcasting in both formats (duplicate effort), it would cost them dearly in extending leases that were planned to expire.

This would have been especially catastrophic to public broadcasting, which is funded publicly and doesn't have the deep pockets of a private station.

28.1.2009 16:34 #1

jaymizzle

This is so mindlessly dumb. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the purchase of a digital box a one time expenditure? And isn't it not relatively that expensive? Especially given the fact that we've known this was coming for YEARS now. C'mon. Stop wasting money on dumb vouchers and start enacting bills to allocate money for more needed affairs. If you're dumb enough/poor enough to not be able to save $40 in 2 years time, you don't deserve to have a television in the first place.
I know people are on waiting lists for vouchers. Maybe they could shell out the dough now, and redeem the voucher later, like a mail in rebate.
When are we going to start being held accountable for our own stupidity?

28.1.2009 18:06 #2

etinkerer

Not only is the public not ready
for the transition, a lot of
broadcasters aren't either.
I am in the western NY market, and
television stations in the Buffalo/
Rochester area either haven't started
broadcasting in digital yet, or are
experiencing blackouts and technical
issues with their digital broadcasts.
That combined with the coldest, snowiest
winter in decades has further complicated
the installation of digital broadcast
antennas on their towers, and most probably
won't be ready to make the switch by Feb 17.
(Who the hell's 'bright idea' was it to do
the transition right in the middle
of winter anyway? Couldn't they at least wait
until spring, when tower work would be easier?
To all concerned: contact your representatives
in Washington and advise them, in the interest
of national security, that an extension of the
transition date is necessary. At least until
March or April. April 17 might be a fair
compromise.
At least allow permission to broadcast
in high power analog until then.
Maybe also in the economic stimulus bill
there will be additional money set aside for
the CECB program, now that it's broke.
What's next? Digital AM radio?

28.1.2009 20:20 #3

SProdigy

Good riddance! At least the House has some sense!

Now, go and pass the additional funding as a separate bill. Why may you ask? Well, the government is getting 19 BILLION for selling off the analog spectrum that is being vacated in February. I'd say they could afford it, but then again, it's a far cry from that 700 billion bailout!

28.1.2009 20:56 #4

P51ride

One thing that everyone seems to forget is that this is one more step closer to a pay per view system be Hollywood. Another thing to consider is will the stations then broadcast the digital signal at the current power levels of their analog broadcasts. Right now in north central Florida I can only receive two digital channels versus about ten analog channels. The converter box wasn't the expensive item. I will have to put up a tower at the cost of $ 600.00 or more. There is no cable where I live and I won't cut down any trees for a satellite dish. Even if I cut down the trees blocking a southwest window to the satellites my neighbors trees would still block it so I would still have to put up a tower for the dish. All I'm saying is follow the money where digital TV is concerned.

29.1.2009 00:33 #5

plazma247

Didnt they sell off the analogue space... if so surely the people who paid for it would have a bit of a problem with having to wait even longer to get their hands on it.

29.1.2009 03:03 #6

etinkerer

This is clearly NOT going to be a turnkey operation
by any means, no matter how much they try to 'make it so'.
Procrastination and tail dragging is quite evident by
all parties everywhere. It will be a very rough
transition, at least until the bugs can be worked out.
Coupons are only good for 90 days from date of issue.
Money from those not redeemed can go back to funding
the socialist entitlement programs.
(I'd still like to know why they plucked Feb 17 from air!)

29.1.2009 09:09 #7

pirkster

Originally posted by etinkerer: This is clearly NOT going to be a turnkey operation
by any means, no matter how much they try to 'make it so'.
Procrastination and tail dragging is quite evident by
all parties everywhere. It will be a very rough
transition, at least until the bugs can be worked out.
Coupons are only good for 90 days from date of issue.
Money from those not redeemed can go back to funding
the socialist entitlement programs.
(I'd still like to know why they plucked Feb 17 from air!)Well.. for one, it was WELL enough in advance for everyone to be compliant. There's simply no excuse for folks not being ready.

The false hysteria from this non-event will only be topped by the Y2K "event." Same rhetoric, same outcome - much ado about nothing.

29.1.2009 12:50 #8

beanos66

Originally posted by jaymizzle: Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the purchase of a digital box a one time expenditure?that's what we in the U.K. were told, then they went and introduced more spaces for extra channels and that caused some of the earlier stb's to fail

29.1.2009 17:58 #9

atomicxl

I'm glad. We need to get this over with. Every station in my city is already broadcasting digitally. Those vouchers have been available for years. If you're a procrastinator and wait until the last minute, the government should kinda toss you to the wind.

It should be like school. If you wait to the last day to do your project and you can't finish it, your teacher doesn't extend the due date. They say, "you shouldn't have waited so long" and you get whatever grade you earned.

30.1.2009 12:23 #10

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