Posted on 01/28/2009 12:39:45 PM PST by djf
Bill passed Senate almost unanimously. House shot it down today.
All TV transmissions set to go digital Feb 17th.
I just wonder exactly how many people will be affected by the analog turnoff. It can’t be that many these days.
Tom Wheeler, Obama’s transition guy for tech stuff, had a vested interest in an industry player, and called a secret meeting with these lobbyists to discuss the delay. So much for an open government not controlled by lobbyists.
This also could be the first time Obama doesn’t get his way as prez, and so soon after he got the job. The halo is fading.
My grandmother, who is approaching 90, is about as non-tech as it gets, and even she managed to apply for a coupon and go down to the store to buy a converter.
Following the simple instructions in the constant ads about the DTV switch is just so difficult!
I would have been one of them, but I bought a box and an Amplified UHF antenna. Works great!
My 81 year old Mom was able to do the same.
Taxpayer money should not be used to pay for converter boxes.
I didn’t have one.
I paid full price.
Forever, apparently. This transition was actually signed by Clinton back in 1996, and the whole process from stations buying new equipment to people getting new receivers was supposed to take 10 years.
We're already over two years overdue for the switch, and now they want to delay it yet again.
They're being paid for out of the money the government gets from the resale of the spectrum.
Or at least that was the plan. The government borrowed against the spectrum sale back in the 90s to achieve one of Clinton's famous "balanced" budgets. Now it's just taxpayer money.
Okay...what if the FedGov decided to force everyone to buy a hybrid car to meet fuel standards? Would you eat the cost personally on that too? I pay enough in taxes every year that them giving me a measly $40.00 coupon back to cover their mandate is chump change.
I agree that name calling is a poor substitute for reasoned debate so I do not engage in such practices. You can certainly buy a converter. Can you and others of a like mindset (mostly rat supporters) stop whining and just purchase a converter? Why do you need a government coupon to purchase a converter? Even if the coupons have been available for 1 year,you and many others have had plenty of time to purchase a converter. There are many reasons for this conversion to happen as scheduled. Taxpayer whining for government handouts is not a reason to delay the transition.
The logical answer to your question that most people have given me and is my reason as well...which you should have already anticipated...is, "We didn't initiate this conversion why should we have to shell out the money"? As I asked another poster, what if they decided you had to buy a hybrid car? Would you eat the cost of that and expect everyone else to as well? Also, you seem to forget that there are people on fixed incomes who can't afford an extra $50 or $60. I wouldn't say they are "whining" when they are actually just plain poor.
RE: “My grandmother, who is approaching 90, is about as non-tech as it gets, and even she managed to apply for a coupon and go down to the store to buy a converter”
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Are you saying she connected the thing as well as going to the store for converter? If so, that’s one competent grandma you’ve got there!
Interesting. I'll have to look into that...
I heard that the Obama family lost their converter box during the move. Now they’ll really have to hunt for it.
Maybe that is one more reason they are after talk radio. Maybe they are scared that when all their tv’s go out, they will only have the choice of getting their news through the radio, and they don’t want that to happen of course!
Thanks! That’ll be a project for when my current series of trips ends and I’m home again.
The point, though, is that without stupid people the networks can not survive! These are the viewers whose unique intellects make TV programming what it is. Helping them would be helping all of us get the quality of network pogramming we have become accustomed to.
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