Obama's transition team urges Congress to postpone DTV cutover
By Darren Murph 
posted January 8th 2009 6:55PM
posted January 8th 2009 6:55PM
[Thanks, Tommy]
posted January 8th 2009 6:55PM
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Ugh... please Obama... no!
Ditto. Enough is enough!
"Education insufficient...most vunerable exposed"? You've got to be kidding. Those that do not know about this by this time either do not own a TV, have been living in a cave, or just do not care. I thinks it is convenient that those wanting to delay the switchover provide absolute no idea of what they consider acceptable eduction or peopl no longer being exposed. Typical socialst mentality. Is is down to the last person...what is their metric?
I agree with the other commenters so far...the switchover should NOT be delayed...at all.
Ugh..... It's TV for gods sake, not life support.
It's not like people will die if they can't switchover their rabbit ears immediately.
Jeesh, time to step into the 21st century already.
Anyone who says there hasn't been enough exposure is out of their mind. I live in Canada and I have been bombarded with commercials and announcements day after day for the past year and a half regarding the cutoff on my american channels. Not to mention its even been in our canadian papers saying that we have our own cutoff planned for 2011. But seriously, if you own a television and have yet to learn about the cutoff, you obviously wouldn't mind losing the analog signal since its obvious your not watching anything.
I have very very bad news for you. Some people in the good old USA DO count TV as a life support system! OMG you would NOT believe the calls I've heard at the cable TV call center when the cable goes out.
I firmly believe there WILL be suicides attributed to the shut down of analog TV.
While I'm sure some people overreact when the cable goes out, there is the important difference that you are PAYING for cable and a lot at that. So when it's not working, they should be calling the company.
Please, pull the plug on analog TV on schedule. Otherwise no one will think there's a need to fix the problem and we'll go one forever with dual systems.
Remember when we were worried about the Metric System? We actually had dual signs in many places at one time when we were trying to convert.
Most countries in Europe switched to the Euro overnight. One day it was Deutschmarks, Francs, Lira, Punts, the next it was Euro. There was a transition period where prices might be shown in both currencies but literally it was a big bang - your old currency would not be accepted after the changeover except in a bank.
Same style switchover happened in Ireland for road speeds. One day it was MPH, and literally overnight all signs were KPH.
So much for "change".
Hope............
NO WAY! If they wanted to postpone it, then they should have done so a year ago. It's too late. This isn't a life-threatening situation. It's TV... not electricity. Talk about a drama queen.
Well they should have managed the coupons better since I know some people got the coupons and did not use them. How about seeing how much of the fund has been used so far in terms of redemption and invalidate coupons that have not been used in a couple of months. Although when we do switch over, there will be chaos. Oh well, with change comes scrutiny and I'm all ready to go over.
As a friend of mine pointed out to me, the FCC already sold off the deallocated upper NTSC chhanel spectrum, this cannot be delayed.
The mere suggestion ticks me off, I've been ready for a very long time and cannot get myself out of 'DTV limbo' until analog shuts down and the channels move to their final frequencies. The FCC did a horrible job allocating the temporary ATSC frequencies, and while the finals are still not as ideal as NTSC was in my area, at least channels from adjacent cities won't be right next to each other anymore, enabling proper OTA reception from multiple antennas.
For goodness sakes people, if you didn't know your old 1975 TV was going to stop working ... YOU HAVEN'T BEEN WATCHING IT. Get cable or go to the library or something.
So much for the new High Defintion channels to come after the So-called Transition. America should have a say in this decision! and i bet 84% want the transition on Feb 17th and no later, because if this extension were to happen(imagine how many people would of switched for nothing and how us digital customers will have to stick with the on and on DTV Scrolls and Annoying commercials on this topic for a very long time to come!!).
I agree with those who say it shouldn't be delayed. Hasn't already been delayed by a few years. Wasn't the original cut-off date set for 2006 or earlier? Postponing does not fix the problem. Making people get on with it does.
If we have to postpone it, let's postpone it until just before the next election. That way we can avoid some political ads and the politicians can really ge the blame for screwing up the I Love Lucy reruns.
The Republicans forced through the DTV transisition law. Now let let the Republicans, especially their digital transistion leaders Kay Baily Hutchinson and John Boehner eat crow.
sometimes the best way to take medicine is to just get the shot.. if you know what I mean. If I had my way, the original cutoff date of a couple of years ago would have been firmly enforced. All it would have taken is 3 months for people to either get over their lack of TV or get a box, a new tv, etc.. there would have been intense screaming and hand wringing and then it all would have been over quickly as everyone adapted or just stopped using TV as an entertainment medium.
That's a horrible idea. If people waited this long to ask for a box, that's their problem, why make it everyone elses. I'm tired of having to deal with reduced power for digital and all those very annoying scrolls about the change. I want this all over with, not drug out forever. I agree that it's just tv, if they are left without it for a couple months, so what? I can't wait to forget all about analog and all this annoying switch-over stuff.
You just can't wait for all the Idiots out there otherwise you might as well forget about it and never do it. For the next 100 years we can be in this limbo and the same B.S. will come up once again. Ya, my 120 year old TV won't work and I don't have a coupon, still to early to to kill analog.
I guess his grandmother didn't get a converter box coupon?
OH..man I need a coupon...can we still get them?
I don't see how postponement will solve the issue. If funding for coupons has run out, add more funding. Beyond that, if people are so ignorant as to not know the cutover is taking place, what difference does it make if you postpone it or not? Delay and you will likely cause more confusion than if you didn't.
Enough is enough! We should have turned off Analog years ago!
I still think the whole cutoff should have been a surprise. When you're watching TV and your show goes out, you're going to be surprised, but wait a week and most will figure out what the gruesome treachery(not) is all about. Ok, maybe not the best idea, but it would work. I think the "educational" program is a great way to "create jobs", wasting resources on failing to efficiently educate people rather than letting people spend their money on goods and services of actual value. People will educate themselves when they have the desire.
Turns out that the White House can't get a clear signal for the CW... It's One Tree Hill or bust for Obama...
I think two things need to happen:
1) All analog stations should say on after Feb 17th, however, they will only run ads saying something to the effect of "Your TV no longer works. Go to your local electronics store to buy a converter box. Your TV is NOT broken!" Run these for 30 or 60 days. Do NOT run regularly scheduled programming!
2) Use any additional money on advertising and implementing a recycling program. Our landfills are going to be overflowing with tons of potentially recyclable CRT television sets. All that glass, gold, lead, and other items are worth some decent scratch.
Obama, do it!
"Your TV no longer works...Your TV is NOT broken..."
Are you trying to explode these people's heads? My suggestion for the message: "Your TV is not broken. The signal for this station has switched over to a digital one, as mandated by US law. Please visit dtv2009.gov or call 1-800-DTV-2009 for information on the switch, and how to continue viewing this station as normal."
Other than that, I totally agree with you.
Why didn't he take care of this while he was a damn senator.
Dude. he had to start campaigning to be President when he got elected to the Senate.
Because he didn't do a damn thing as a Senator except run for president. Why taint his record with actual accomplishments?
I know that I am personally fine, have Dish Network on every tv except one, which is a new Toshiba HDTV w/ Digital Tuner.
I would, however like to see it postponed until sometime after FEB 30, when I get back from out of the country. I really want to be watching an analog stations, just to see it get shut of at midnight.
Too late for a extension, FCC Chair Kevin Martin Declined the Bid for the DTV Extension.
Yeah, this isn't happening for the reasons stated above. The problem was education. The cable and sat companies totally exploited this and misinformed everyone-- my mom got coupons, and she has Dish, my best friend got coupons and his apartment complex has free cable. Neither of them really even understood what they were doing and why. My mom thought that come february, she'd loose all her Dish SD channels and was worried that her PVR would fill up with HD shows too quickly (which is awesome that she could even figure out that scenario on her own, so I had to give her some credit!)
One good thing about a postponement of the analogue broadcast cutoff, is that it would give Congress time to study and decide the issue of whether consumers will ever be permitted to make a permanent tape or disc recording of digital broadcasts(particularly HDTV).
Without restrictions on excessive use/abuse of HDCP(via HDMI) copy protection, it will be impossible to introduce Blu-Ray recorders in the U.S.A., because there will be nothing to stop cable,sattelite & terrestrial HDTV broadcasters from(at the push of a button) rendering 100% of digital T.V. programming unrecordable. I still see digital T.V. as a sinister entertainment industry scam/scheme to turn back the clock to the days before VHS & Betamax.....to the days when no consumer could record a T.V. program.
See - this is what happens when so little money is thrown at educating folks in rural areas. They grow up and delay the coolest tech advances in America because they aren't ready. Blame the pickup truck owners!
Google's desire for open spectrum delayed?? Blame the trailer parks. Better yet blame the Republicans for not assisting the poor.
[ / lame humor ]
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