Senate okays digital TV transition delay to June 12th
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 26th 2009 8:05PM
posted Jan 26th 2009 8:05PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Jan 26th 2009 8:05PM
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I believe the article says that the Senate voted. There is still hope that the House votes against it? Although I'm not holding my breath.
Considering it was unanimous in the Senate (not ONE senator stood up and said "no"???), it should easily fly through the House.
Well this sucks! I can't get my local CBS station OTA, but on Feb 17th, they were gonna get a new, GOOD, frequency. Now what? I thought I was just gonna miss episode of Survivor in HD, now what, the whole season?
Leave it to the Senate to screw something up last minute.
-Brian
I don't think you have to miss a whole season of Survivor because our elected officials are the same people that are befuddled by this change in technology.
There are multiple ways to catch the shows online. And if all else fails there is always torrentz.
Search: Survivor.S18E.HDTV.XviD.avi
Impeach the lot of them!
If this cut-off date isn't mandatory (I.e. meaning they can turn off the analog signal anytime between Feb 17 and June 12), get ready for even more confusion and hysteria, once again, caused by our government.
Yeah, I don't even know why we have government. All they do is fuck shit up.
Awesome! My tax dollars hard at work... costing me more tax dollars.
Thats the beauty of their system. Waste our money because as a group we have so much of it :)
That's a shame. Damn shame.
Ah, socialism at it's finest.
The government stalls technological progress until I buy everyone in the projects neighbor a new TV.
Bingo. Cater to the lowest common denominator. So sad.
It's the Bush Administration that fucked this up...they didn't fund enough coupons.
Even if they move the *mandatory* switchover date, a whole lot of channels will likely be switched in Feb anyway. There's no reason they can't do it, it just means they're not being forced to.
Most TV stations have been planning this for a long time, and would likely have everything set up for the switchover in Feb. If it costs them more to pull all these plans and perhaps go out and buy another months worth of SD programming, they might just go ahead and pull the plug early.
Hell, there's a bunch of stations already who have done so, well outside Feb.
"No ma'am, you need a Monster HDMI cable that supports 120Hz... Yes ma'am, only $130... yes ma'am, that is the only way you can receive the new digital signals"
So now I have to hear about this for a few more months.... GREAT..... Shoot me now. I'm tired of the news stories and commercials.
I don't care anymore. I'm all set. Furthurmore, I don't have any SD broadcast in my fav guides. I a stations sole broadcast is SD, I DON'T WATCH IT. PERIOD. They can do what they want.....I'm all set.
Would everyone please tell their Grandma this is going to happen so I don't have to see the banner during all my shows!!! For God Sakes so much for "the future is now" .....idiots
OBAMAnation.
More like abomination
Uh, that's what I was going for?
Worse case scenario for America has come true!
Expect the new transition date after this to be January 1st, 2010
And forget the HD channels the Companies promised you there never going to happen. until more bandwidth is freed (especially the Espnews HD and The Weather Channel HD's of the world)
Not even . . . .the Feb. 17 date wasn't just random. It was picked to be after the super bowl, before march madness and masters, and a bunch of other events (although it looks like it's just before the academy awards).
So if it gets pushed back again, expect more negotiations over the precise date.
What a clusterf*ck
Boy did the government screw this one up. Just read where PBS will need $22 million more to delay the digital transition. This will cost many TV stations quite a bit of money. Again they voted before they knew all the issues involved.
That is this administrations thing....close gitmo before knowing where the terrorists are going to be kept....delay the dtv switch before finding out what happens...and it's just going to continue with a stimulus package....and again with socialist style health care... never researching the negatives....
Follows the logic of those that voted for the most liberal senator in the US with minimal job experience....they didn't think what negatives he bring...and obama does't think either.
Some PBS stations have already gone only digital. You can file a waiver. The problem is the analog equipment that was going out that can cost 10s of thousands of dollars to replace for only a few months so many were already shutting down.
Also, I read on this very site that the FCC asked cable co's to pause their own digital transitions until the Feb 17th date, so do they need to wait until June now? If so, that's gonna piss off a lot of MAJOR companies (Comcast, TWC, RCN, Charter want to speak up here?) and consumers who I'm sure would love more HD for those that already have STBs, and for those that don't have 'em and will need to get 'em, well they're gonna be mad whether they need to get a box now or in 6 months, so give those that want their HD their Flipping HD CHANNELS!!!!!
-Brian
P.S. I have a way of still getting CBS HD OTA, but it's MUCH more convoluted and I really hope my CBS sticks to the 17th.
This doesn't affect cable companies.
Cable companies were already required to continue delivering analog signals until 2014.
This only affects over the air.
Oh fvcking great...now stupid people are going to be even MORE confused because their TV will work after Feb 17th, and they will assume they are compliant.
Stupid, STUPID government. I love my country, but an very annoyed with my government.
Darren,
This is the best picture EVER! I love that lady!
Don't these politicians have more important things to do other than worry about the DTV date? This date has been set in stone, now they want to change it.
I hate this administration. One week and they're already pissing me off.
The only way this could be stopped is if Pres Obama veto's this package which is likely not going to happen.
The fund-only bill would of made much more sense than a Date Change!
This was in play with the last administration, Bushies... it was delayed more than once in the last 8 years. It is an idea that should have been killed off, but unfortunately the new administration was suckered into it. I have FiOS, so I don't care, but really...if you aren't ready now, it's your own damn fault.
I'm not suprised by the Senate vote. Most of those old geezers probably don't know if their own tv sets can receive a digital signal.
Ugh, dumb move. They will just keep delaying this, what makes them think people will be ready by June? Same people who are not ready now still will not be ready. The converter is like 20 bucks at radioshack, stop waiting for coupons it is not that expensive Take a break from McDonalds for a week.
oops 54.99 at radioshack, still not that expensive and way cheaper then a new TV