When the original deadline was set, it was set in the context of a growing economy, not one that's collapsing around our ears. The notion that $50 for a conversion box might actually become an item out of reach of a significant number of the population was genuinely not considered realistic - indeed, the voucher system was devised not as a form of welfare for the old and needy, but as compensation from those damned phone companies for "forcing" people to upgrade their TVs by buying 700MHz spectrum.
The voucher supply has run dry. A significant part of the population will not be able to afford to go digital by next month.
Meanwhile the benefit is supposed to be that some phone companies might be able to start practicing rolling out an LTE network, though no-one seriously expects any LTE networks to go commercial this year because of the early state of the standard. And nobody's planning to use the spectrum for anything else either. So, actually, all of that spectrum that's going to be freed up is going dark until some time mid-2010 at the earliest. It's not going to be used.
This really isn't "common sense" in any practical way. If the spectrum's not going to be used, and people are having trouble upgrading to digital, why are we in such a rush to switch off analog?
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When the original deadline was set, it was set in the context of a growing economy, not one that's collapsing around our ears. The notion that $50 for a conversion box might actually become an item out of reach of a significant number of the population was genuinely not considered realistic - indeed, the voucher system was devised not as a form of welfare for the old and needy, but as compensation from those damned phone companies for "forcing" people to upgrade their TVs by buying 700MHz spectrum.
The voucher supply has run dry. A significant part of the population will not be able to afford to go digital by next month.
Meanwhile the benefit is supposed to be that some phone companies might be able to start practicing rolling out an LTE network, though no-one seriously expects any LTE networks to go commercial this year because of the early state of the standard. And nobody's planning to use the spectrum for anything else either. So, actually, all of that spectrum that's going to be freed up is going dark until some time mid-2010 at the earliest. It's not going to be used.
This really isn't "common sense" in any practical way. If the spectrum's not going to be used, and people are having trouble upgrading to digital, why are we in such a rush to switch off analog?