Posted by SH
The Senate has voted to approve a four-month delay in the mandated switch from analog to digital television, changing the date that over-the-air signals would no longer work from Feb. 17 to June 12. Despite the government’s massive promotional campaign advertising the switch, the Nielsen Co. estimates there are 6.5 million U.S. households whose televisions would go dark without the postponement. President Obama felt the delay was necessary after the Commerce Department reached a $1.34 billion limit on funding $40-to-$80 coupons for people to buy digital TV-converter boxes. The bill now goes to the House, which could vote on it as early as today.
The delay could cost PBS $22 million, because they would have to keep broadcasting in both analog and digital for another four months.
Share your thoughts. Does the digital TV transition need to be delayed?
I’m guessing a few people would miss CBS, since CSI, Survivor, 60 Minutes, The Mentalist and NCIS were five of the 10 highest-rated shows of 2008. But since I didn’t watch a minute of any of those shows, I wouldn’t miss CBS at all … as long as I could still watch How I Met Your Mother online.
I think “Woosh…it’s digital” is just too jarring. Put the names of all the networks going digital into a hat. Someone at the FCC pulls out the names one at a time. First one switches on the original date, second one a week later and so on. That way people won’t have their televisions go completely dark and will be less irate than sad that they were so stupid they did not go out and buy a digital box. It will also be an interesting way of determining if anyone would really miss CBS.