Posted on 01/06/2009 7:38:33 PM PST by TornadoAlley3
I actually lost channels I normally watch. Gained a 24 hour weather channel.
The pictures freeze or drop audio or the entire signal. The new “super receiver” antenna they sold me picks up nothing at all. My old tv antenna picks up the signals much better.
Once issued cards are expired,then more cards can and will be issued,until the authorized funds are used up.The limit is funding,not number of cards issued.
About half of the cards mailed haven't and can't be used now because they had a 90 day expiration.Nor can those addresses get replacement cards.Many people found themselves with cards expiring while the stores had no converters .
You created extra administrative costs ,you saved no taxpayer monies,and you just prevented a fellow American from being easier able to afford the forced changeover.
Your acts are nothing to brag about.Neither is the whole switchover nor the bungled coupon program.
The government ,wanting to sell spectrum,arbitrarlily devalued tens of billions of dollars of existing TVs.It is entirely reasonable the same government compensate the TV owners in a way that allows them to retain or recover some of the lost value.
Those earlier changes were done in a way that meant existing sets still worked and the people who wanted and could afford sets to get the new content could buy new sets.
The previous FCC-forced changes have been mostly imposed on commercial users who could write off the costs of new equipment as a business expense,or in the dawn of radio when the tiny percentage of the nation's population who were radio experimenter had to stop using spark-gap transmitters.This is a forced change affecting millions of people.
Besides,why should one bad decision be used to justify another?
If I beat you today,and you don't report it ,is that justification for robbing you tomorrow?
Americans ought to have pushed back long ago ,even before government mandated how much water a toilet could use.
We haven't had a free market economy for a long time.We have "choices" to buy the government approved products of the companies whose lobbyists were most effective in having laws passed beneficial to their company and industry.
“Get a box or a new TV.”
You didn’t read very carefully. I’ve done got my boxes. Also, I am fully aware of the advantages - very clear picture, more stations available...I get it, HD is better than analog.
But, nobody can explain why we HAVE to do it. I know the fed gov looks at the airwaves as ‘public’ property that they own and control...but, if they license a station to broadcast on a freq, what business is it of theirs if the station is analog or digital. I just see it as big government making an arbitrary decision, which affects millions of people, for no particular reason. On Feb 17, we will once again witness how inefficient and ‘dumb’ government can be, when literally millions of people figure out that they don’t have the right equipment. Some will blame these people,call them dumb, etc...but if big gov would just leave stuff alone, we wouldn’t have to worry about it.
So, can anyone tell me why this is Necessary?
Maybe $$$$$ for campaign donors. The banning of incandescent light bulbs and freon, and the hysteria over global warming are making some people very wealthy. We DO have the best Government money can buy.
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