Congress Urged to Postpone Nation's Switch to Digital TV

Washington Post ^ | Thursday, January 8, 2009 | Kim Hart

[lewisglad]

Consumers Union is urging Congress to delay the nation's transition to digital television, saying the program to help TV viewers prepare for the switch next month has been underfunded and poorly implemented.

In a letter sent last night to President Bush, President-elect Barack Obama, House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the consumer advocacy group said Congress should push back the transition "until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals."

The request comes two days after the federal government said it has run out of money to provide coupons to help offset the cost of converter boxes. Analog television sets that rely on "rabbit ears" or rooftop antennas to receive broadcasts will need a converter box to get a picture after Feb. 17, when all full-powered television stations will stop airing analog signals and move to digital-only broadcasts.

Lawmakers are looking for ways to make sure consumers who need coupons get them in time. "But with the date looming, moving the date back certainly warrants further discussion and may be a wise choice," said Daniel Reilly, a spokesman for Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet.

As of Sunday, consumers requesting $40 vouchers to help purchase a converter box are being placed on a waiting list, and federal officials warn that TV watchers may not receive the coupons in time for the switch.

A coupon is not needed to purchase a converter box. But with boxes costing $80 in retail stores, Congress allocated $1.34 billion to provide coupons to help offset the price. Consumers who have a newer digital television or who subscribe to cable or satellite service will not lose programming.

[Scotswife]

Thank you very much for that - will give it a try tonight.
(dial-up download here)

[Scotswife]

thanks for the reply - I didn’t really take the time to take a close look at what was happening until I saw your post earlier.

[reg45]

Don’t worry, Barack “Total Botch” Obama will fix it.

[reg45]

I bet there will be quite a few people who will wake up on February 17 and not understand why their TV's can't pick up a signal and blame the whole thing on George Bush.

[freekitty]

I wish I could tell you; but being no computer expert; I just don’t know. Someone else posted and said it’s not microsoft. It could be a number of things; but I got nailed no matter what it was.

And frankly, I am tired of paying money out.

[reg45]

Digital TV is “All or Nothing”. You either get a good signal or no signal at all. So if you had a little static before, you will no longer have static, but then again you may have a blank screen. But then, who wants to see 0bama for the next four years - I don’t. Re-runs of “My Mother The Car” would be more believable.

[freekitty]

Another thing I learned. There is a commercial on television stating pay as you go phones. They state you don’t pay on the days you don’t use your phone. I thought well, that’s a good deal; until I talked to them and one person let slip you also pay a dollar extra a day when you use your phone. What a rip off. You know as well as I do most people are going to use their cell phone everyday; so that adds up to an additional $365.00 a year you pay including the usual charge and whatever else they can stick on. That was At*t and some service providers want more.

I believe that’s called a scam. So keep your regular service because it’s probably cheaper to go that route.

[Scotswife]

I bought one of those phones, but it did say on the packaging that you pay $1 on the days you use the phone.

It’s good for people like me - I rarely use my cell phone.

I want it if my car breaks down and if I have to tell someone I’m running late.

I rarely use it just to have a conversation with someone.

[freekitty]

I can understand that and I agree; but there are a lot of people that have those things glued to their ears. LOL

[Scotswife]

yeah - my 19 yr. old daughter has a monthly plan with a year long contract.
She works and pays for it herself.
That thing never quits buzzing.

[freekitty]

LOL.

[SunkenCiv]

Consumers Union is urging Congress to delay the nation's transition to digital television, saying the program to help TV viewers prepare for the switch next month has been underfunded and poorly implemented.

Congress should investigate the so-called consumer magazines for their "ratings" of products which are mostly no longer available by the time their articles appear.

[Aquinasfan]

Strange, they can recognize that because of an "underfunded and poorly implemented" program that some people might not get Oprah in February, but don't bother with counting how many people will die from the same government pushing an underfunded and poorly implemented medical system in which finding an alternative outlet is illegal.

Thinking about it too long will literally drive you mad. Liberals are very hard to understand.

[snarkpup]

In desparation, I got the family a digital converter, the Zenith DTT901.

Most reviewers I checked who seem to have some experience with these things recommend this unit as the best one for people who may have difficult reception. I picked one up today at Radio Shack and it does the job using a plain rabbit ears.

One station (the NBC affiliate) has just barely enough signal and requires very careful adjustment of the antenna. (The built-in signal level meter helps in this regard.) I can see a lot of people losing stations like this when and if the changeover occurs.

[Paleo Conservative]

Paradox:
In desparation, I got the family a digital converter, the Zenith DTT901.

snarkpup:
Most reviewers I checked who seem to have some experience with these things recommend this unit as the best one for people who may have difficult reception. I picked one up today at Radio Shack and it does the job using a plain rabbit ears.

The Channel Master CM-7000 is one of the highest rated converters especially for picture quality. It has an S-Video port that eliminates interference between the chroma and luminence signals.