DTV Switchover

DTV Switchover: Is It Feb 17th?

Posted by Sam Churchill on January 28th, 2009

The national transition to digital television remains on track for a scheduled date of February 17, after the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected a proposal to delay the switchover.

But Reuters says don’t read too much into the move. Supporters of the delay still expect it to pass as soon as next week.

John Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in a statement after the vote that he was “deeply disappointed” and claimed that the Bush administration “grossly mismanaged” the program.

The House vote of 258 to 168 failed by just a few votes to meet the two-thirds threshold required to pass the measure. The vote comes just two days after the Senate unanimously approved pushing back the transition to June 12. President Obama’s advisers have also advocated delaying the transition.

Republicans opposed the delay, saying pushing back the date would create confusion for consumers and burden television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals.

Proponents of the delay have warned that millions of consumers will be left without television service if the transition is not postponed.

The Nielsen Co. said last week that more than 6.5 million U.S. households are still not prepared for the upcoming transition and could see their TV sets go dark next month. Moreover, millions of consumers are still waiting for coupons for digital converter boxes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which ran through the $1.3 billion allocated for the coupons. A Senate panel on Tuesday approved an additional $650 million for the coupon program as part of its so-called “stimulus” package.

source: dailywireless.org