02.04.2009 5:24 pm
TV’s off-again, on-again digital switch is off again
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Forget Feb. 17; now it’s June 12 for TV’s switch to all-digital broadcasting after the House joined the Senate Wednesday in approving the delay. If the wait were used to put more coupons into people’s hands, to make sure shelves were well-stocked with converter boxes (which they were last weekend when I checked) and to figure out some sort of support system for people who can’t manage to set up the boxes on their own — fine, I guess. But who really thinks we won’t be in very much the same situation, say, June 1? My favorite sentence in this AP story about the delay is the National Association of Broadcasters saying they’re hard at work preparing new TV spots to inform viewers. Oh, yay!
How come KDNL Channel 30’s plan to switch on Feb. 17th, regardless of the law that allows channels to delay, isn’t getting any press?
All stations have to notify the FCC by Monday if they plan to turn off their analog signal on Feb. 17, the original date. We’ll report then on which local stations do. The FCC rep, Rebekah Bina, discussed this Thursday in her live discussion.
In my area (Cleveland OH) some stations are still building new towers that won’t be ready untill this summer. Their signals are too weak to broadcast digital. This delay is needed not just because people have put off buying converter boxes(I have mine).
I second your “Oh, yay!” Just when you thought the constant bombardment of “reminders” was soon to end…