RSSObama transition team suggests delaying DTV transition
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published January 8, 2009, 5:36 PM
With the latest technological countdown for change still in progress, the incoming President-Elect may try to call a halt.
While the February 17 switchover date to a new, principal broadcasting format is looming, another huge switchover is even nearer: January 20. And all of a sudden, the transition team that had until recently suggested that there is only one administration in power at any one time, is suggesting that the US government may not be doing enough to help citizens through this difficult change.
According to reports citing letters that were unavailable from Senate Web sites Thursday due to what appears to be a service outage, Obama transition team co-chairman John Podesta wrote to the chairmen of the House and Senate Commerce Committees that the US Commerce Dept. had not made enough funds available to give $40 coupons towards citizens' purchases of converter boxes. "With coupons unavailable, support and education insufficient, and the most vulnerable Americans exposed," Podesta wrote, "I urge you to consider a change to the legislatively mandated analog cutoff date."
Podesta's letter comes after the recipients of that letter, according to a Washington Post report this morning, requested the very same thing of President Bush. Their suggestion was that the transition date should be delayed "until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals."
Speaking on behalf of broadcasters, in a statement issued this afternoon, National Association of Broadcasters Exec. VP Dennis Wharton suggested that it was the original firmness of this transition date that enabled the whole changeover to take place to begin with, and that it may be far too late now for legislators or executive officials to trade blame for insufficient resources.
"The certainty created when Congress set the February 17 hard date for the DTV transition was a positive catalyst for broadcasters, manufacturers, retailers, public safety groups, consumers and the government," Wharton wrote. "NAB and broadcasters nationwide are committed to being ready by February 17 and strongly support a solution that would enable the government to continue making converter box coupons available to consumers who rely on free television. We continue to urge Congress to act swiftly to ensure coupons are made available for those who need them."
Later in the day, Wharton's boss, NAB President David Rehr, issued a note that was more conciliatory toward the transition team. "Today's announcement...reaffirms the importance of free and local broadcasting in the fabric of American life," he wrote.
Last November, soon after his appointment to the new transition team, Podesta -- former chief of staff under Pres. Clinton -- suggested to Multichannel News that the DTV switchover would be one of his team's many subjects, although he admitted some ignorance of its details at the time. "The digital television transition will take place, I believe, in early February. I don't have the date stuck in my head. We're focused on the fact that that will be an early challenge and we need to be ready and prepared for that," he said.
Such angst, such pathos.
The forced march has only been on the table for 10 $%#@ years already!
It has already been delayed once!
I know, lets delay it 3 more times, change its labeling yet again to confuse folks even more into thinking its a NEW change, and - if we're lucky- we can put this crap off indefinitely!
And all over one of the simplest end user mods conceivable!
And whose idea was the expiration of the $#%& subsidy cards - especially for those who got them early and for which the retailers did not yet have product?
A government program from inception to - well, those programs never end, do they? Unfortunately.
The only debate left is that over which acronym is most appropriate:
SNAFU or FUBAR
Score: -1
|Problem one- Setting the transition date to occur in February, which for much of the country is not prime outdoor experimentation weather. ( I say experimentation because setting up an outside antenna will require much trial and error activity )
Problem two- TV broadcasters are currently broadcasting on two frequencies, one for the analog signal which will end 'sometime', and one for the digital signal which is our 'future'. Some of these are are both VHF signals, some are both UHF signals, And some are VHF now but will be UHF after the transition (or vice versa). The problem lies with the fact that many who have tried to follow the lead of the transition purveyors are not aware that the transmissions they are currently receiving through converter boxes or digital tuners of their newer Televisions frequencies will change after the magical transition date. So those who believe they are ready (ahead of the curve) will wake to find their reception has gone black as well. IT takes a very different antenna to receive VHF vs. UHF signals.
Problem three- Local broadcasters have only followed the required notification process without any additional technical information being made available to enable better preparedness.
Problem four- This transition has been repeatedly miscategorized as a HDTV transition, further confusing the public (often hastening the purchase of, still overpriced, HDTV televisions. HDTV is a digital transmission, but most digital television transmissions will NOT be HDTV after the transition.
Problem five- The signal from a digital transmission is often much more susceptible to environmental influences (disruptions). This is in part due to physics laws, transmission antenna limitations, broadcast power limitations (especially pre-transition), Limitations of the DTV tuners in Televisions and converter boxes and of course the fact that this is relatively new technology on the consumer side and market forces have not favored innovation! (Why improve something if I can sell the minimum now , then improve it and sell the new model tomorrow?
Suggestions-
Find additional funding for the converter box program.
Postpone till July, the end of analog broadcasting.
Require broadcasters to meet the February deadline for broadcasting from their final transmitter antenna location and final transmission frequency (That is switch from the temporary digital frequency to the final digital frquency and, likewise, switch the analog signal into the frequency currently being used by the digital signal) This will enable end users to actually get ready for the transition and know what equipment (antenna type, preamps, rotators...)are needed to receive a signal. This will maintain an analog signal while folks finalize their readiness for the transition to digital only signals.
Require local broadcasters to specify their final frequencies, transmitter antenna locations, transmitter power.
Be honest and inform the public that due to current technological limitations some of us will no longer be able to receive over the air television signals. This will likely be a relatively rare instance, but that remains to be seen.
It is true that some of the info I have suggested be made more readily available is already available if you know where to look, most folks aren't even aware that they need do anymore than buy a converter box and have some kid hook it up for them!
Score: 0
|i belive the first problem is that we watch too much TV to begin with.
Score: 1
|just convert it already.... people need to get off their ass's anyway... oh no, i might miss my tv shows... cry me a river
Score: -1
|They need to just convert and be done with it. I read in the NY Times they are claiming over 7 million people won't be able to watch TV. I find that hard to believe and of course they didn't site how they got that number. I think most of the coupons have been wasted. I keep hearing from people things like "I have cable but I went ahead and got a coupon to get a box just in case."
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|How silly. Do you know how much money has been spent by TV manufacturers to get up to speed?
There will be suits galore any way this goes.
God we have an ineffective government, Obama or not.
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|Don't say that people buying new TVs when their old one stops working when analog goes away will be a good thing for the economy. Converter boxes and TVs are very low margin items, almost all the money spent on them is sent directly overseas to the Chinese manufacturers. Virtually none of it goes to help the economy in the US. It is much better for people to spend at local restaurants and for services like hair styling which benefit the local economy, but are typically the kind of expenses that people reduce when times are tight.
Score: 0
|The debt that people are creating by buying these devices is supplied by asians. What goes around...
Score: -1
|Recall that we predicted a year ago that the transition would be bumpy -- right down to saying they'd run out of coupons.
Score: 4
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