Your TV will still work on February 17, even if it’s analog. I am personally not a fan of TV in any form, but even I recognize that TV is the way many household, and especially many elderly Americans, connect to the outside world and fill idle hours that would otherwise be spent in silence. The attention to the comfort of the average American is obviously high on our president’s priority list – pushing through this delay to enable more people to get ready for it was one of Obama’s first priorities and he got the job done in good time.
Gee, am I glad I voted for this man.
With less than two weeks left before the scheduled national transition to digital broadcasting, Congress on Wednesday approved a delay of the DTV switchover.
The House of Representatives voted 264 to 158 to push the transition back from February 17 to June 12. The Senate unanimously approved the delay last week.
House Republicans blocked an earlier attempt at delaying the transition, saying pushing back the date would create confusion for consumers and burden television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals. The initial vote on the measure required a two-thirds majority to pass under “fast-track” rules, but Wednesday’s House vote required only a simple majority.
The bill now awaits the president’s signature.
Democrats, including President Obama, were concerned that consumers were not prepared for the transition and that millions of people would be left without television service if it were not postponed. Nielsen reports that more than 6.5 million U.S. households are still not prepared for the transition.
Furthermore, millions of consumers are still waiting for coupons for digital converter boxes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which ran through the $1.3 billion allocated for the coupons. A Senate panel last weekapproved an additional $650 million for the coupon program as part of its so-called stimulus package.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10156931-38.html