Correct me if I'm wrong but the initial vote for the delay was unsuccessful, right? I wonder what changed between then and now.

Save this story, Consumerist, because when June 12 arrives you can just change the date to October and use it again.

Cheezus H. Rice, just switch already and get it over with!

How much is this going to cost?
How many riders are attached to this bill?

Maybe they could give away a free Digital converter box with every Snuggie that is sold and give up on the coupon program.

Do we really anticipate that an aditional 80-100 million in funding will be approved and available in the next 3 months so that consumers will be able to obtain their free converter boxes in time for the June 12 switch.

@phoenix6666: Last time they used a modified procedure so it took more than a basic majority to pass, and they were only short by 2 votes or so.

This time they used a regular procedure, majority rules.

[www.vizworld.com]

@phoenix6666: The previous vote required a 2/3 majority. This one just needed a simple majority.

Damn it, four more months of those stupid commercials. Not like this vote is going to cause less confusion. Stupid politicians.

@Wild Monkey: And all the private sector companies (network affiliates, etc) will have to re-do all their commercials that talk about February. That can't be cheap. That's about 80% of the DTV commercials I see on a daily basis.

If I recall the original bill provided the option for the networks to cut over on the February date anyways. Which to me makes sense. Refund the program, fill the analog channels with nothing but messages about switching to DTv and force the change anyways.

slackers. Those are the only people who will be "confused" by a DTV transition.. and i ain't got time for slackers!

And what would be so hard about simply assuring people that they'll be reimbursed the $40 when the money is available? Why make everyone wait for the coupons?

"Sorry you didn't get a coupon on time, but if you send in your receipt, we'll send you a check for $40 within 3 months"

@Ash78: Actually, they should have just made it a tax credit like they do with everything else.

@Rachacha: Or, instead of bailing out banks and auto companies, they could give them to give out to new customers. DTV converter box free with every new account/car!

"The delay will help the millions of consumers whose coupons expired before the converters were even available."

No it won't. It'll morph this screw-up into one giant clusterfu*k. The money isn't allocated properly for the coupons, but the adverts have been running like mad. Cue mass confusion...

@samurailynn: What about people that don't file taxes (SSDI, SSI, etc..)? How would they get the money back? Those people are the most likely to actually need the $40.

I personally think the gov should have just chosen among several converters and mailed them to people who requested them. No coupon BS, no (consumer) overcharging. (Who here really thinks those boxes cost even $40 to manufacture/sell?)

Pretty stupid. They should have gone to 2016 if they wanted.

It's funny to know that the 1st original DTV deadline was mid 2006 HA!

This is a terrible idea. The government is in desperate need of money, and selling the analog channels to the private sector could secure billions very, very soon.

This is complete BS. Even if we wait until 2012 there will still be millions of people who aren't prepared. At least by going ahead and making the change, you force people to do something or go without. There's no real motivation if you keep putting it off.

When I was in my broadcasting classes in undergrad, we talked about the digital changeover taking place in the next 5-8 years. That was in 1992.

Let's get it over with already.

@CaptainCynic: You nailed it, come July the same people won't have their boxes.

@redskull: Here here!

You know, they warned everyone around Mt. St. Helen to get the hell out of dodge b/c there was going to be an eruption. Most moved out. Others stayed and died. You can not get 100% compliance, b/c 100% of the population isn't "sane" or "compliant". I will bet the second those people in the homes who didn't leave saw the wave of ash approaching their homes, they made a bee line for the door to try to escape. The only thing that motivated them to move was the unavoidable approach of something that couldn't be stopped.

The delay will help the millions of consumers whose coupons expired before the converters were even available.

Why not just make all converter coupons non-expiring, regardless of what it says on the front? Every one of those coupons, whether used or not, were budgeted for, so there's the possibility of a goodish chunk of money in the initial budget that will never be spent. It wouldn't be that hard to get the word out to the places that sell the converters that there's now no expiration date. (Whether it got down to the front-line employees is a whole 'nother thing, I know.)

Something I haven't see addressed is what about people who are told they aren't able to have a box? I got one coupon myself (we have satellite) and gave it to a co-worker because when she went to apply she was told her address was not in an "authorized service area". I'm guessing she's outside the broadcast area for the local channels and so the converter may not work for her. She can't get cable (rural area) and can't afford a dish. How are people like her being served by the "public" airwaves?

This won't help anyone. If your coupon expired you're likely already stuck. The rules are that you can apply for up to two coupons total in your life, if you got both and let them expire then you can't apply again. If you got one you can still get another.

Problem two is that they just don't have enough money to give coupons to everyone. It's not like this bill suddenly allocated more money to the coupon program. So even as they reallocate funds from expired coupons some people will still not get coupons.

In addition to problems with coupons, there are still a lot of people who won't get any TV after the switch since the legal transmission power allowed for digital stations is a fraction of what was allowed for analog transmissions. That combined with additional problems with how DTV signals deal with multipath reflections will cause many people's TV signals to go dark. Just about everyone using indoor "rabbit ears" will be unable to get digital signals even with a box. (I live in the middle of a major metro area and can't get NBC digitally due to transmission problems.)

People have had several years to make the change, and as long as the government keeps passing extensions they'll keep on delaying.

Why is the government required to even do this for people, for free? TV watching isn't a right last time I checked. Make the change and if people want to watch TV badly enough, they'll get what they need.

Maybe I'm a cold-hearted bitch, though.

@SweetBearCub: I thought those on SSDI, SSI, and the like HAD to file their taxes, year after year, just to prove that they met certain requirements and for calculating benefits, etc?

@Mark Sansone: They sold the rights to those off a long time ago.

@Jthon: Part of the legislation in passing this bill was to allow those who previously applied but haven't redeemed (ie expired) to reapply for new coupons.

@Plates: Enough to sod the missing part of your brain.

@serreca: No, I think that sounds pretty rational/legit to me.

In these pressing times all this money we have spent on this is looking ridiculous. We can only try for so long to pull these people into modern life. Enough is enough.

Watch me shed a single tear for stupid people.

Oh wait, no I won't, because that would be a waste, much like this delay.

If these idiots couldn't process the "get box by Feb 17th 2009" message that's been repeating on a 15 minute loop for the last half-decade, how will they possibly be able to process the "Just kidding, actually now it's going to be June 12th, but some stations might switch over on the original Feb 17 date, so who knows?" message remotely competently?

I hope and pray that every station in the Seattle metro area (and, by extension, every station in America) continues as planned, knocks down all the analog towers come the 17th, and cranks up the digital towers full blast. The news reports of mass confusion come Feb 18th will be CLASSIC.

Screw all those people who weren't ready. They aren't owed SHIT.

@redskull: I agree, switch it over! Do we have any idea how many of those people without coupons that applied for them actually have cable or satellite? I can see consumers saying "well if the gobernment is gonna git it to me fa free..." or, the other argument, "If my cable goes out I want to be able to watch the local news/weather." The people waiting have had a whole year at least to get their coupons. I say shut them off and free the spectrum.

@Mark Sansone: The money for that is already in the bank. How do you think they're funding those $40 coupons?

Some of it may be trickling down into the economy, but in a very very indirect way.

@serreca: The way I look at it, the government is making an enormous profit by making who knows how many television sets worthless without a converter box.

It's kind of like buying music with DRM, only to have the DRM servers taken down a couple years later... sure, it's not your right to listen to music, but if you paid for it, and someone else rendered your purchase nearly worthless, you'd expect compensation or a reasonable substitution. Coupons for converter boxes are good enough (it'd be nice if they were $50-$60, to fully cover one, but some places have them for $40 if you look hard enough).

@Fresh-Fest-1986: Hey, I have seen the sausage get made and it turned me into a vegetarian who knows all the sausage makers are idiots.

@spongebue: Yes but the TVs that need the converter boxes have to be pretty old, right?

When CDs became mainstream, did the government start handing out tape-to-CD recorders?

What am I missing here?

@Matt: At least as far as SSI goes (and very likely SSDI), you cannot file taxes, since you have no taxable income. Or so the IRS help line told me. This has the side-effect of locking me and many other consumers out of any tax credits or economic stimulus packages.

And for the record, no I do not LIKE collecting SSI. I want to work, as evidenced by the fact that I spend my time in an internship program working my way up the ladder to be a social worker. My odds of finding companies willing to hire me though is about the same as me collecting my lottery winnings (I don't play) and being struck by lightning as I did so.

This is bullshit. Once again, the lowest common denominator is catered to.

@puka_pai: "Every one of those coupons, whether used or not, were budgeted for, so there's the possibility of a goodish chunk of money in the initial budget that will never be spent."

That's incorrect. As soon as the coupons expire without being used, they put that money back into the pool.

That's why people are on a waiting list right now. They wait for the coupons to expire and send out more...

@Matt: This version does too (emphasis mine):

"SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION.

(a) Permissive Early Termination Under Existing Requirements- Nothing in this Act is intended to prevent a licensee of a television broadcast station from terminating the broadcasting of such station's analog television signal (and continuing to broadcast exclusively in the digital television service) prior to the date established by law under section 3002(b) of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 for termination of all licenses for full-power television stations in the analog television service (as amended by section 2 of this Act) so long as such prior termination is conducted in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission's requirements in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, including the flexible procedures established in the Matter of Third Periodic Review of the Commission's Rules and Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Television (FCC 07-228, MB Docket No. 07-91, released December 31, 2007)."

@SweetBearCub: Damn Skippy! No blithering excuse for the middle man except a kickback.

Hundreds or thousands of temp jobs, a simple, and important, works program.

I get that when this would have been decided, there was no visible need for a works program, but there was never an excuse to do this through retail marketplaces.

This type of distribution program is something that the government is not good at, but it is something the government should learn. Many of the people who need a converter box don't go (or can't go) to the stores that sell them.

Why not roll this out across the states a region at a a time, ala the UK?

I agree with Obama that the implementation haas been bad. I disagree that a delay will address the issues, and I am personally annoyed, because I could've waited to buy my Tivo HD until June. In this type of plan, you have to assume that some people will only be goaded to action by the actual loss of signal.

@serreca: Because they gave the spectrum to the networks for free for decades. The deal was, they got the spectrum, we get to watch TV over the air.

Mostly the problem are elderly Americans who have been watching the same Zenith since the 1970s.

...fucking stupid. Plain and simple we are shown again that the Feds have their heads far up their asses.

According to this Consumerist post ([consumerist.com]), Hawaii has already made the transition, leaving many people without television.

I'm all for delaying the transition in order to assist all those Americans who require financial assistance in order to retain their television service, but what about those that have already been affected?

As reported on ArsTechnica, the delay will help certain interests (Clearwire Communications) have more time to develop a competing product to Qualcomm, who are waiting in the wings for the transition to take place so that they can roll out a mobile video service. This alone wouldn't be so bad -- if an advisor to President Obama's transition team wasn't on the board of Clearwire, and apparently had a hand in the establishing delay. Instead, it looks like more of the same shady backroom dealings in Washington.

[arstechnica.com]

We've got to put up with this "get ready" crap until June!? *head asplodes*

The broadcasters should do all of us a favor - for those of us who were actually prepared for this transition anyway - and air those annoying DTV switch informercials and PSA's ONLY on the analog broadcasts, and only those until June 12th. Maybe then, some of those people might take a hint. Maybe.

@Plates: The bill doesn't have any amendments.

I got this from GOP.Gov:
"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that S. 352 will require $85 million in expenditures in 2012, with would be offset by $100 million in receipts in 2013"

@serreca: You're missing the fact that the government didn't require cassette-tape player manufacturers to stop making cassette-tape players. Furthermore, the government didn't require that you stop using your old cassette-tape player with your cassettes.