HuskyCaucasian Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Via TPM: The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12 — setting the stage for Congress to pass the proposal as early as Tuesday. Monday's Senate vote is a big victory for the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress, who have been pushing for a delay amid growing concerns that too many Americans won't be ready for the currently scheduled Feb. 17 changeover. The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals could see their TV sets go dark next month if the transition is not postponed. "Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., author of the bill to push back the deadline. "I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time." President Barack Obama earlier this month called for the transition date to be postponed after the Commerce Department hit a $1.34 billion funding limit for government coupons that consumers may use to help pay for digital TV converter boxes. The boxes, which generally cost between $40 and $80 each and can be purchased without a coupon, translate digital signals back into analog ones for older TVs. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department administering the program, is now sending out new coupons only as older, unredeemed ones expire and free up more money. The NTIA had nearly 2.6 million coupon requests on a waiting list as of last Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 How many years have they been telling people about this. How long have the rebates been out. Yet last minute people complaining about how they can't get a rebate form is going to move this. They will move the date again when the same people don't move forward again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 10:41 AM) How many years have they been telling people about this. How long have the rebates been out. Yet last minute people complaining about how they can't get a rebate form is going to move this. They will move the date again when the same people don't move forward again. Agreed. It doesn't matter how long it's going to be postponed, there will be people scrambling behind it once it finally goes into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartattack19 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 My problem is that i already have the boxes, but the signal is weak as hell. I hope that they amplify the signal so i can get a solid picture without it cutting in and out. I know the easy way to fix this is get cable or direct tv, but that is too expensive for the budget right now... When the picture works, it looks great, it is just annoying as hell... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Homer: What really burns me up is they didn't give us one word of warning. Carl: What do you mean? They ran those TV commercials about it, and that big radio campaign. Lenny: Don't forget the leaflets they dropped from the Space Shuttle, and the two weeks we all spent at area code camp DTV camp. Homer: Not a single word of warning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (Heartattack19 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 08:16 AM) My problem is that i already have the boxes, but the signal is weak as hell. I hope that they amplify the signal so i can get a solid picture without it cutting in and out. I know the easy way to fix this is get cable or direct tv, but that is too expensive for the budget right now... When the picture works, it looks great, it is just annoying as hell... This of course gets to the heart of the problem. Neither group of people really wants to spend the money on this. The broadcasters don't necessarily want to spend major amounts of money upgrading their signals right now, and consumers don't necessarily want to go buy additional converter equipment. And even if you get past that, it's likely that some people just won't get the signal after the transition that they got beforehand. Unfortunately, that's why there's a big, bully government out there, to hopefully force people to make decisions they don't want to make if it is actually going to be for the good of the country overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 10:12 AM) Agreed. It doesn't matter how long it's going to be postponed, there will be people scrambling behind it once it finally goes into place. The tech version of this is going to happen in the next few years, the IPv6 conversion. Wait till the geeks get a hold of 128 bit addressing that is represented as hex for their IP addresses. I have been testing and working with IPv6 in the lab for a few years. For the geeks on the site, if you wish to see the new IPv6 addressing you dont have to wait you can test it via this site and the free connectivity software on the right side. Google has some IPv6 sites, and the military is converting over to it. IPv4 to IPv6 connectivity Actually one of the first users of this technology should be mobile phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Wow, did not understand more than 4 words of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (Heartattack19 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 10:16 AM) My problem is that i already have the boxes, but the signal is weak as hell. I hope that they amplify the signal so i can get a solid picture without it cutting in and out. I know the easy way to fix this is get cable or direct tv, but that is too expensive for the budget right now... When the picture works, it looks great, it is just annoying as hell... Couple different factors here. The nice thing about analogue is it fades gracefully. The farther you are away, the snowier it gets. With digital... it's all or nothing. So, if you were getting some snow before the transition.. you can almost book it that you wont get much after the transition. Antenna factor in big. Due you use one o ntop of the TV? roof mounted? Is it a passive or powered antenna? These are all huge factors. Where you live in relation to the brodcast antenna is also a factor. If anything major obstructs the signal path, you'll have major problems. I live in an apartment. The TV in our bedroom doesnt get much reception because the signal has to go through 3 walls, and an entire other apartment complex building... and we ar eon the ground floor. If we were on say.. the 3rd floor, it might be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JorgeFabregas Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 My signal with the box is way better than it was before. The signal meter on the box really helps in positioning the antenna to get stations in clearly. There is one station that I used to get that I now can not reliably get now. There are several that I did not get before that I can now (plus sub-channels). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 I should note, that after the transition, some channels will be broadcasting stronger and on a different frequency (channel 2 in chicago is moving to channel 12). So, that will help some. As for the delay... yea, if you dont know about it, you;re a fool. It's been badgered for the last 6 months. Shame on you! but, a 4 month delay isnt that big of a deal. but no more delays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandy125 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 11:14 AM) This of course gets to the heart of the problem. Neither group of people really wants to spend the money on this. The broadcasters don't necessarily want to spend major amounts of money upgrading their signals right now, and consumers don't necessarily want to go buy additional converter equipment. And even if you get past that, it's likely that some people just won't get the signal after the transition that they got beforehand. Unfortunately, that's why there's a big, bully government out there, to hopefully force people to make decisions they don't want to make if it is actually going to be for the good of the country overall. So, since neither group wants to spend the money and the date is getting pushed out, guess who gets to pay for that? Government and the Industry, which means us because we pay for the government and also us because we are consumers for the industry. PBS itself will take a $22 Million hit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Kickass Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 12:36 PM) I should note, that after the transition, some channels will be broadcasting stronger and on a different frequency (channel 2 in chicago is moving to channel 12). So, that will help some. As for the delay... yea, if you dont know about it, you;re a fool. It's been badgered for the last 6 months. Shame on you! but, a 4 month delay isnt that big of a deal. but no more delays. It's not about people not knowing about the DTV transition, its that there are tens of thousands of people who are on waiting lists for set-top box coupons. They hit the 1.3 billion dollar ceiling on the coupons in early fall... they expect that waitlist number to grow to hundreds of thousands... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 God damn, NPR and PBS are getting hit hard, I donated what little I had last month after a this american life appeal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JorgeFabregas Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 11:36 AM) I should note, that after the transition, some channels will be broadcasting stronger and on a different frequency (channel 2 in chicago is moving to channel 12). So, that will help some. As for the delay... yea, if you dont know about it, you;re a fool. It's been badgered for the last 6 months. Shame on you! but, a 4 month delay isnt that big of a deal. but no more delays. That's good. That's and WTTW are the only stations that I don't get right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Allow me to throw this in the mix. About 33% of this market receives their signal over the air. After the transition, it is expected that most of those viewers will switch to the Mexican owned stations right across the border. This will result in a loss of revenue for US broadcasters and an increase in revenue for those Mexican stations. There is really no need for those people to spend the money to convert. House Bill H.R. 5435 was proposed to help out those US businesses that would be affected. So far it is "dying in committee" 2/13/2008--Introduced.DTV Border Fix Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to allow the renewal of a full-power analog television broadcasting license through February 17, 2014, for stations located within 50 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico, provided certain requirements are met, including that the renewal does not prevent the auction of recovered spectrum or encumber or interfere with any channel reserved for public safety use. Requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), if mutually exclusive applications are submitted to use a channel under the amendments made by this Act, to award the authority to use the channel through competitive bidding under existing procedures. And before someone raises this point, we have Spanish language on the US side and some English on the Mexico side. So it isn't a English versus Spanish thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Get basic cable. Come into the 21st century for God's sake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I've been living here since 2005 and I still don't know which channels are which in Baltimore, and it gets worse on my cable where I pick up both the Baltimore and DC versions of the channels. All I can remember is that Fox is 45. I guess NBC is 11? s*** I don't know. As far as I'm concerned it'll always be 2, 5, 7, 9, 26, 32, and 54. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JorgeFabregas Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 12:46 PM) Get basic cable. Come into the 21st century for God's sake. No. I do not want to spend $360/yr on tv in perpetuity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 12:46 PM) Get basic cable. Come into the 21st century for God's sake. Put down the remote and live life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Another solid job of the federal government completely screwing the pooch on something they should have never really been involved in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santo=dorf Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 No. I do not want to spend $360/yr on tv in perpetuity. That's pretty cheap. Cable companies con people into thinking $30 a month but that's only if you get internet and home phone service for $30 a month each. I've been without cable for three months now and it's not too bad. I watch a lot of movies so I have Redbox and Netflix to entertain me. The cable packages here freaking blow and I'm in an area with 6 MLB teams blackout. With streaming sites like Stooge.tv I don't really see why I should get it. My best bet is to get DirecTV and their biggest package (274 channels) to get all the Fox Sports Nets and CSN's but it's $82 a month and I'm not sure my side of the building gets a receptive signal. I also link on other people's wireless networks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 04:56 PM) Another solid job of the federal government completely screwing the pooch on something they should have never really been involved in... So who exactly should be deciding how the airwaves are divided up? I can't imagine anything closer to a definition of interstate commerce than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 07:27 PM) So who exactly should be deciding how the airwaves are divided up? I can't imagine anything closer to a definition of interstate commerce than that. All you have to do is see the results of their actions to understand they completely blew this too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 08:01 PM) With streaming sites like Stooge.tv I don't really see why I should get it. Stoogetv is no more, neither is its offspring homertv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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