Free Republic

Several dozen Republican lawmakers have voiced serious concerns about DirecTV’s alleged plans to “deplatform” and censor Newsmax from its channel lineup as early as midnight on Tuesday.Last Friday, Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, and 41 other Republican House members signed a letter sent to AT&T, DirecTV, and hedge fund TPG Capital, the minority operator of the satellite system.Hunt’s letter stated that the members of the House Republican Conference are “deeply concerned about this undemocratic assault on free speech.”If Newsmax is deplatformed, it would be the second time AT&T’s DirecTV has deplatformed a major conservative news channel in the past year.Newsmax, the...

WHDH Boston didn't expect to still be paying the electrical bills for two transmitters come late June 2009. Like many U.S. broadcasters, the Sunbeam Television station and NBC affiliate had already exceeded its original transmission budget when the government pushed back the turnoff date for analog signals from Feb. 17 to June 12. WHDH Engineering Director Jim Shultis looked forward to shutting down high-powered digital broadcasts on UHF Ch. 42 and launching digital signals on VHF Ch. 7, the station's former analog assignment. But as of last week, WHDH was still running transmitters for both Ch. 42 and Ch. 7....

Aliens Lose in Switch to Digital TV By Seth ShostakSenior Astronomer, SETI Instituteposted: 18 June 200905:07 pm ET The United States is finally ditching analog television broadcasting, and the rest of the world is doing the same. Unless you've got a converter, the government has just morphed your trusty analog boob tube into an inert piece of furniture. Mind you, this is a good thing. Digital TV (DTV) offers better picture quality. For example, the ghost images caused by signal reflections off that high-rise office building down the block will be a thing of the past. In addition, you...

Suppose someone pulled the plug and a couple of million people didn't care. That may be what the TV industry is discovering nearly a week after the U.S. broadcast industry converted from analog to digital broadcasting. Days after their analog TV signals went dark, 2.2% of U.S. households still haven't bothered to hook up to digital reception, according to estimates released Wednesday by Nielsen Co. Even more troubling, the estimates are based on households in Nielsen's national and local TV ratings panels, which means that more than 2% of Nielsen's panel is reporting zero TV usage in the days following...

HELP, this digital TV conversion really is horrible! I used to get 9 channels with my antenna. I bought a new digital TV and now I get 2 channels, and they are spotty. I live outside the cable covered area and they will not bring it on up the road, so how can I get local TV stations like I did before?

WHDH-TV acknowledged yesterday what thousands of viewers had already discovered since last Friday’s nationwide conversion to digital television: its Channel 7 signal is hard to get in the post-analog era. The NBC affiliate said yesterday that it has begun simulcasting its signal on Channel 42, its temporary sister digital station, until it works out “signal difficulties” with the Federal Communications Commission. “We are very sorry for the inconvenience to our viewers, and we hope to have this resolved quickly,” said general manager Chris Wayland. In a statement, WHDH blamed the problem on a “power allocation” issue. The station said that...

The long-awaited switch from analog to digital TV took place last Friday, and if you're like most people, you weren't aware of it. But if you are poor and/or stupid, you've probably had a rough weekend. "Nearly 700,000 calls were received by a federal hot line this week from people confused about the nationwide switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts that occurred Friday. About a third of the calls were about federal coupons to pay for digital converter boxes." Does that really say, "federal coupons for digital converter boxes?" "The largest volume of calls came from the Chicago area..."...

LOS ANGELES - Nearly 700,000 calls were received by a federal hot line this week from people confused about the nationwide switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts that occurred Friday. The Federal Communications Commission said Saturday that about 317,450 calls went into the help line, 1-888-CALL-FCC, on Friday alone, the day analog signals were cut off. About a third of the calls were about federal coupons to pay for digital converter boxes, an indication that at least 100,000 people still didn't have the right equipment to receive digital signals.

CINCINNATI -- Hundreds lined up Friday morning for free digital converter boxes. The Freestore Foodbank announced Thursday that it would offer 250 free converter boxes at its office in Over-the-Rhine Friday morning at 8 a.m. By 5 a.m., more than 300 people had lined up. By 8 a.m., that number had swelled to more than 600. Because of the large turnout, not everyone in line would be receiving a free digital converter box. A digital converter box is needed by anyone who does not have cable, satellite television or a digital antenna. The government has offered coupons to help people...

The big DTV moment is here - like New Year's Eve, labor pains or the millennium.. For once, a technology change is not driven by the youn. Senior citizens are the most prepared, according to Neilsen. Yes, the old folks rule.

“He actually fired two rounds before she left the residence."

The digital transition has left some confused, but a Joplin man was down right frustrated with the switch. So frustrated, in fact, that he peppered his television set with gunfire. Police responded to the man's house Wednesday after reports of shots being fired inside. Turns out the 70-year-old gunman was livid over losing cable and could not get his digital converter box to work. Police took Walter Hoover into custody after a brief standoff and charged him with unlawful use of a firearm. Hoover's wife told police that he had been drinking before the incident.

DTV Transition Partially Occurs, World Doesn't End Federal call center easily handles user calls, problems... 05:58PM Thursday Feb 19 2009 by Karl Bode About 421 of the nation's roughly 1,800 stations made the transition to digital broadcasts on the originally scheduled date (February 17), and so far the world has continued rotating. Fears that consumers weren't ready for the switch resulted in Congress extending the deadline into June, though TV stations were given the right to cut over ahead of the deadline -- as long as they got permission from the FCC. According to the Associated Press, the Federal call...

After a decade of preparation, WHIO-TV will cease analog broadcasts as planned after Feb. 17, 2009. Although late Congressional action allows stations to delay the transition to digital television at their discretion, WHIO-TV is already committed to the previously required analog shut off date...

(AP) -- Television viewers who use antennas and were expecting a few more months to prepare for digital TV may not have much time left before their sets go dark: Many stations still plan to drop analog broadcasts in less than two weeks. When Congress postponed the mandatory transition to digital TV until June, it also gave stations the option to stick to the originally scheduled date of Feb. 17. That means the shutdown of analog signals, which broadcasters had hoped would happen at nearly the same time nationwide, could now unfold in a confusing patchwork of different schedules. Lawmakers...

(02-04) 13:32 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Television viewers who rely on sets with antennas to pick up their broadcast signals have about four extra months to get ready for the nation's switch to digital TV.

U.S. House votes to delay analog shutdown Posted: Today at 3:18 p.m. Updated: 1 minute ago WASHINGTON — Congress has delayed the analog TV shutdown by four months. The House on Wednesday voted in favor of a bill that gives consumers until June 12 to prepare for the transition from analog to digital television broadcasts. The bill now heads to President Obama for his signature. A spokesman has said he will sign it. In a 258-168 vote last week, House Republicans defeated the proposal to delay the analog TV cutoff - currently mandated to be Feb. 17. But that vote...

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (”LCCR”) is a far left interest group. The group opposed conservative judges. The group agitates for card check. The group is in favor of the Fairness Doctrine. It is chiefly an agitator for affirmative action programs and tries to pressure banks into giving high risk loans like those that caused the housing crisis. If you oppose them, they label you a racist. LCCR operates like ACORN. And the Senate Democrats are about to give the $90 million of your money. Under the cover of the digital television conversion delay, the Senate Democrats want to...

"Clearwire has a cooperative agreement with Sprint to build a 4G wireless internet network. When it comes online, it would be the fastest wireless internet network in the country. Naturally other wireless companies are working on their own 4G networks too. Clearwire's major competitor in this capacity is Verizon....."

For the second time, the Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday night to delay the transition to digital television by four months in order to give consumers more time to get ready. The Senate first passed a bill Monday to postpone the switch from Feb. 17 to June 12. But on Wednesday, House Republicans blocked the bill from getting the two-thirds majority needed to pass under the rules applied to the legislation, even though the majority of lawmakers voted in favor of the delay. By passing the bill that failed in the House, the Senate is giving the House another...