Bill to delay DTV transition is itself delayed

In an early sign that there may not be smooth sailing ahead for even some Democrat-backed initiatives of lesser importance than, say, the long-term health of the nation's economy, Senate Republicans late Friday successfully blocked the fast-tracking of a bill introduced yesterday by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D - W.V.) to delay the nation's DTV transition date by 90 more days, to June 12. This according to the Associated Press this morning.

The measure now has the clear backing of the incoming Obama administration, whose transition team leader John Podesta had advocated more time for citizens to redeem government-backed coupons toward the purchase of DTV signal converters for their analog sets. Members of the Obama team, along with current lawmakers, are worried that too few of those coupons have been redeemed, indicating that citizens may not know they've received them. (The possibility that they may not want or need to redeem them has not been discussed.)

The Rockefeller bill may yet come up for a bill during the regular course of Senate business next week. Meanwhile, the bill's language has been transmitted to Rep. Henry Waxman (D - Calif.), who has introduced a bill with very similar text in the House.

This despite the fact that the state of Hawaii, which opted to officially throw the switch one month early, is reporting relative success with its efforts. According to Broadcasting & Cable, only 900 calls were registered by the state's two call centers, while ABC affiliate KITV in Honolulu reported handling just 20 calls from concerned viewers.

The National Association of Broadcasters has already voiced its support for keeping the deadline at February 17. Among the reasons broadcasters may wish for the transition to proceed on schedule is the fact that high energy costs are already weighing down on stations that must proceed with broadcasting simultaneously on two sets of frequencies.