Posted on 10/19/2005 11:04:22 AM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A Senate bill, scheduled for committee vote Thursday setting an April 2009 digital television transition date, will include a $3 billion subsidy program for digital converter boxes, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Wednesday.The subsidy will cover "everyone who has a TV who needs a box," Stevens said at a luncheon speech sponsored by the Free Enterprise Fund.
The $3 billion will come out of the roughly $10 billion in proceeds expected from sale of the block of 700 megahertz spectrum currently occupied by broadcasters that will be freed up with the switch to digital TV signals.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasdaq.com ...
It's so great the GOP is in charge, keeping government spending to the bare minimum!
Like Tom Delay said, they've cut out all the fat!
Seriously, this is no different than the looting in New Orleans...apart from being better organized, and on a larger scale.
Thanks for the laugh.
Yeah...I caught that, and meant to comment on it, but had forgotten about it by the time the web server allowed me to post. :-/
Unbelievable. Television has now become a fundamental right. Sort of like driving, abortion, and not being offended. (I hope your sarcasm meter just twitched, by the way.)
}:-)4
It ticks me off that the govt is at all involved in what should be a purely economic, supply-and-demand issue. What this means is increased expense for all of us.
For those in Alaska -
PLEASE vote this guy out of office. How many more $250 million bridges to nowhere and subsidies do we need?
the $3 billion is probably nothing compared to what the government will collect in new FCC fees for expanded digital broadcasting and radio bandwidth.
Because the government will raise money selling licenses on the spectrum. What's good for government is good for you!
Look, we're paying of some pretty big campaign contributors, here. That can't be left up to chance.
Well, at least it'll be good for my Scientific Atlanta (SFA) stock.
Jeez...I need a new remote control...will those be free?
Don't worry! Once we get a Republican majority, we'll pare government down to a bare minimum!
My lawnmower broke the other day. We need a lawnmower subsidy.
"Here's one thing I've never yet seen explained...why does a switch to digital TV have to be governmentally mandated?"
The spectrum digital broadcasts use is regulated by the FCC. The FCC wants to force TV broadcasters to use that spectrum so they can free up the spectrum currently used for analog broadcasts for other uses.
Since Ted Stevens is a Republican, logic states that anyone who is opposed to this profram is a Disruptor from DU or Daily Kos.
We have three TVs. I'll take three boxes, please! On second thought, gimme my three boxes! Don't infringe my "right" to free TV.
It's like what's called a "taking" in legalese. They are taking from you something you already own -- that is the ability to watch broadcast TV with your current television set. Because they are taking something from you, they need to compensate you for it. The compensation is the convertor box.
Suppose that tomorrow the government mandated that all cars must run on propane only and they passed a law forbidding further gasoline sales. You would expect that they would cover the cost of converting your car to accept propane would you not?
But if the government passed a law saying that you could no longer use your gasloine-powered lawnmover to cut your grass, and that you had to purchase an electric mower instead, you would expect some compensation for taking away your right to use what you already posess wouldn't you?
Damn it, TVs are a LUXURY item, not some gub'mint cheese.
Pork King Ted
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