House Shoots Down DTV Transition Delay Bill

Despite having backing from President Barry and the Senate, Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s DTV (digital television) delay bill died in the House this afternoon. The bill was intended to delay the transition to digital from analog for television broadcasters from the original date of February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009.

Lawmakers proposed that too many Americans would not be ready for the transition despite its long heralded coming and the government backed digital conversion box subsidies. A Nielsen poll suggested 5.7% of households were not ready and would be faced with static come transition time (while 94.3% would be ready).

The bill did not meet the need for two-thirds of positive votes under House rules. Opposition for the bill claimed the delay would cause confusion as it would change the long advertised date as well as put extra costs on broadcasters who worked to meet the existing deadline.

Side note: You could only be affected by the transition if you receive your television signals over-the-air. If you have a cable, satellite, or any other kind of box that you plug into your TV to watch then you’ll be just fine throughout the transition.

Source: Yahoo Tech

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