Posted on 01/08/2009 9:27:20 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Two of those coupons came to my house, even though I didn’t apply for them. Commerce Dept. got my address on them, but the name is somebody I never heard of. I’m thinking of having them framed.
Goodness ... this is ALL we have heard about for the last several months on every TV channel in America. It has NOT been a secret.
Hysterical - but also sadly true.
Note that the analog signal that you currently receive with multipath or snow may be on a different channel entirely from the replacement digital channel. In my experience, with NYC broadcast antennas about 40 miles away, using an outdoor-mounted UHF yagi aimed in that direction, with a decent preamp (although not yet mast-mounted), with my location on a hill almost 500 feet above sea level, well, to borrow a phrase, when reception is good it is very, very good, but when it is bad, it is horrid...
I was unable to watch CBS channel 2 (which is 56 digital IIRC) at all on Tuesday evening, sometimes it is marginal with annoying signal cutouts, and other times it is perfect. I can not watch PBS channel 13 at all (not sure of the digital channel, although I'm guessing that it's on UHF too - the analog channel comes in with snow but is watchable). (Some folks would count that as a blessing). I can usually pick up the main transmission as well as the sub-channels of NBC 4 and ABC 7.
Biggest culprits are precipitation, foliage, and wind.
Even some of the more-local signals suffer with degradation from time to time (but are perfect at other times). When there is some atmospheric enhancement, though, I can watch plenty of stations from New Jersey. Also not all converters are equal in their reception capabilities. So, it's a mixed bag...
“This is off topic a little; but I was wondering if anyone out there was experincing problems with their computers.”
yes - virus notices with temporary crashes.
To be fair, neither of those abandoned old technology. They just added new signals, just as going from B&W TV to color. I don't know what happened when FM was moved from around 45 MHz to around 100 MHz. That would be similar to ours because it did make equipment useless.
I don't know. I just know that all my TVs worked properly during the test and I have no outside or roof top antenna, just whatever is on/in the sets themselves. And we're over 100 miles from the station that did the test.
Don’t let the bread and circuses go dark. People may revolt against congress.
We're doomed. ...without govment help.
“Wheeeeeere’s the privacy?”
I remember those ads well! I liked the ones with Dick Butkus. There was one that only aired a couple of times. At the end of the ad, the old lady turned to Dick and said, “What kinda name is Butkus?” She clearly pronounced it as Butt kiss! It was hilarious! People must have complained though, cuz the ending was cut from the ad.
Happy New Year,
John
I'm hoping that when the switch over happens, the local stations will be increasing xmit power. One station in our area is advertising this fact. So there may be hope for me yet.
I am roughly 22 miles and line of sight -- digital signal is nearly maxed out. Doesn't even matter hardly at all how I orient the UHF loop. Signal strength and usability (lack of multipath, mostly), depends on a lot of things. One signal I can't get quite well enough to lock on most of the time is broadcast from a transmitter 78 miles away and below the crest of a hill in-between us. Occasionally, however, it will lock on.
Given five years notice and funding approved two years ago, plus a firm deadline, the federal government still hasn't figured out a way to give away money!
And we're actually thinking about letting these people take over our health care...???!!!
The $1.34 billion sum is sufficient to cover the cost of 33.5 million $40 coupons -- that's roughly one-third of the households in the US. Could it be that one-third of the households in the US a.) don't have cable and b.) can't afford a box?
Or, as is usually the case, will 85% of the sum allocated be consumed by "administrative & distribution costs" -- so that it is costing the taxpayers $228 for the government to give away a $40 coupon?
Unbelievable!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The scary part is that people will/would get more upset about not being able to watch TV than having their rights taken away.
I’m inclined to think you are correct, at least in the case of the sets I have as (relatively speaking) they are all fairly recent models.
Anyone that watches even a minimum amount of TV had to know about this entire thing the ads about it are incessant and at least once per newscast something is discussed about it. Heck, I’ve gotten tired of the ads about it on the radio — and I listen to more radio than I watch TV!
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