Senate votes to delay DTV transition, House may be next
A bipartisan compromise bill drawn up over the weekend by Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D - W.V.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R - Tex.), which would delay the US' transfer date for over-the-air TV broadcasts to digital to June 12, passed the Senate early Monday evening. A bill with similar language being debated in the House, could pass there as early as tomorrow.
The ink on the bill is so fresh that the Library of Congress' online reporting service does not yet have the text. So it is believed that the matter of how Congress would appropriate the money necessary to extend the deadline, was actually left up in the air. Prior to the other important transition that happened in Washington -- the change of administrations -- government accountants reported the coupon program was running dry of funds.
In an effort to reconcile some of the unwritten elements of the compromise bill prior to just simply delaying everything, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger -- whose member stations will probably be forced to broadcast on both analog and digital frequencies throughout the spring -- told Congress that her network would need $22 million in government funds.
Earlier this month, Kerger expressed dismay that citizens who have recently requested coupons were apparently being put on waiting lists, while the distribution problem was sorted out.
The purpose for the delay is to iron out the problems the government has apparently had in distributing coupons redeemable toward the purchase of DTV converter boxes for existing analog sets. The Nielsen organization estimates that about 5% of the population, as of a few weeks ago, may not be ready for the transition.
In a statement this evening to the Associated Press, Sen. Rockefeller said, "Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do. I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time. The Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama Administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged process."