you gotta love this
Straight from the New York Times just an hour ago.
No wonder CE manufacturers drag their feet with new digital tuner products. They don't believe we'll ever really get there. Can you blame them?
Straight from the New York Times just an hour ago.
No wonder CE manufacturers drag their feet with new digital tuner products. They don't believe we'll ever really get there. Can you blame them?
Quote:
Six weeks before the nation’s television stations are scheduled to convert to digital transmission, the Obama administration is asking Congress to consider a delay.
In the most significant sign to date of concern about the impending digital TV transition, the Obama transition team co-chair John Podesta said the government funds to support the change are “woefully inadequate” and said that the digital switch date, Feb. 17, should be “reconsidered and extended.”
Echoing concerns from consumers groups, Mr. Podesta said that the Obama transition staff has found major difficulties in the transition, which was authorized by Congress in 2005. On Feb. 17, stations are scheduled to switch from analog transmission to digital, requiring consumers who rely on over-the-air signals to install converter boxes.
Major broadcasters, including ABC and NBC, have signaled that they support a delay. Earlier this week the president of PBS, Paula Kerger, “said she’s especially concerned that children in less-affluent homes that rely on free television might lose access to PBS educational shows for kids,” including “Sesame Street,” the Associated Press reported.
Millions of television viewers would be affected by the switch. In December, Nielsen Media Research estimated that 7.8 million households, representing 6.8 percent of homes with television, have not upgraded any of their television sets for the transition. Those homes would be unable to receive any TV signals after the switch. Subscribers to cable or satellite television will not be affected by the transition.
The administration’s statement will put new pressure on Congress to delay the end of analog broadcasting. The move comes as the government’s $1.3 billion coupon program to subsidize the cost of converter boxes has run out of funds, placing more than one million requests for coupons on a waiting list.
“The federal government is getting $19 billion from selling the analog TV spectrum, while people with analog TVs have to go out and spend their own money for a converter box,” said Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, in a press release Wednesday. “Everyone affected by the digital switch should be able to get their $40 coupons. Congress needs to consider delaying the transition until these problems are fixed.”
In a letter to Congressional leaders, Mr. Podesta said that the number of unfulfilled coupon requests could increase by the hundreds of thousands every day. He indicated that Obama’s economic recovery package would include additional funds for the transition.
“With coupons unavailable, support and education insufficient, and the most vulnerable Americans exposed, I urge you to consider a change to the legislatively-mandated cutoff date,” Mr. Podesta wrote.
