House says no to DTV transition delay

I bought my last analog TV back in 1997, and recall hearing in the news at that time thatthe U.S. would be switching to DTV by 2008. That old TV has worked fine for the past 11+ years, and I feel that I have gotten my money''s worth out of the $400 I paid for it. No, I haven''t asked the Govt. for a handout of a converter box. Frankly, there''s nothing worth watching OTA here in Las Vegas, NV There''s not much worth watching on cable either, though I do find some decent material on the Discovery and History channels. What about Internet (Net) TV? Any thoughts? By the way, I don''t think the Govt. should delay the transition, and I agree with others'' comments about helping ourselves and our neighbors.

It would not be so bad except for the fact that millions of the coupons are void because when the started issuing them they never told anyone they expired in 60 days. So people like me are stuck with worthless coupons and they will not issue you a replacement. What a crock of BS

You said it, Jones. I don't know about you though, but my neighbors aren't all that neighborly. It's sad when you try to reach out time and again and people just don't care. It's like they care if you work with them, but once they get home, and back to their "cave," they just want to be left alone. You offer help and they look at you like you're trying to rob them. What has happened to society?? What came first? People stopped helping or people started being afraid of help. Anywho, get on with the transition, pushing the date back will only give them reason to push again. Those who aren't ready won't be until AFTER the transition. Gov't shouldn't be subsidizing this anyway. Why don't they subsidize my tax accountant since they make changes to the tax code, like, every year? And, go out and help someone. We expect gov't to do it, but we can't do it ourselves? Come on people. Gov't IS us... or was supposed to be at some point. Stop redistributing wealth and services and just provide them to others right next to you!!!

Make the DTV change now. Delaying will just mean we will have this same argument again in 6 months. One defender of the delay made the rhetorical argument: "Who insures [that] the wheelchair bound lady ... has something to do [presumably watch TV] when she is dropped off from "day care"? Will you give them your convertor? Take them to the store? Look in on them at all? Replace/Dispose of their old sets?" My answer is an emphatic YES!! We need to get up off our SELFISH BUTTS and care about our neighbors. If we live next to someone in need of help with the DTV conversion, JUST DO IT. Amazingly, you will feel better about yourself for having done it. Maybe if we start caring for each other instead of expecting the government to do it, we could make a better society.

Wow...lot of passion on this one. Congress is making a political mountain out of an ant hill! Best Buy sells these things for $50! Or they could get a brand-new modern TV for ~$100! "A lot of money," give me a break. I'm sorry, but you don't have that discretionary money to spend...then guess what, you don't have a TV to plop down in front of! Oh my, what would we do without TV!? How could the government control what we see and hear, how could the media control our news, and how could Hollywood tell us how to live?

Verizon promised us FIOS TV in two months when we moved to Indiana. That didn't happen for over six months later (from 2006 to 2007). By that time our TV habit changed. We watch only DVD's and Video tape. We didn't miss anything except the Super Bowl (oh my God, that hurt - yeh right!) My children are outside playing more, getting homework done, exercising, reading BOOKs! In other words, excelling instead of sitting in front of the TV (which is a Digital HD Vacuum Tube version.) Verizon has been trying to woo us over to subscribing to get the BIG FIOS DIFFERENCE. I finally had to tell them to back off. We enjoy our freedom from the TV habit thank you very much. Don't stop the change over, let it happen, but what is needed is for some people to wean themselves from this addiction, and that is coming from an engineer.

;) and Best Buy and HH Gregg for causing the misinformation. We're so sue-happy everywhere else business acts, why not when they actually act irresponsibly. --The FCC nor the federal government are trying to make bank off of this, that's just an ignorant idea. --We NEED the freed up space that other investors have already paid for. --We NEED locals across the country to power down and stop maintaining their antiquated analog systems to save energy (during all this "climate change," right?) and save money, possibly to be able to provide more jobs, in these hard economic times. --They're aren't any tech geeks getting all giddy about this change. Any tech geek doesn't give one good gosh-darn flying flip of an iota. We geeks already have cable or satellite and are getting a much better feed of the station than what is over the air. Most of us geeks happen to be fiscally conservative and we think it's smart to just do this change. On second thought, I think the government should spend money and buy us all a new keyboard for all the pointless ranting we're doing here. The change is coming. It was a good idea, get over it. Now where are my food stamps, I'm hungry and Obama needs to feed me like right now!!!

I''m sorry, but I have to AGAIN state the argument that it is not the government''s (which means all of our) place to provide this kind of aid. And, yes, it IS the same thing as when air broadcasts first went online and the government buying TVs for everyone. It would have seemed laughable then, as it is now. It''s not up to the government to make sure we are provided with something that is NOT A RIGHT. That''s right folks, like healthcare, and shoes on your feet, TV IS NOT A RIGHT... it''s a PRIVILEGE. Most of the space has already been auctioned off, actually, I''m pretty sure all of it has been. That means wasted dollars. The electric bills and construction and maintenance costs have been HORRENDOUS! Save the economy by moving forward! CHANGE! Anytime you make a change of this nature there WILL ALWAYS be people left behind. It could be because of ignorance, neglect, laziness, carelessness, stubbornness, whatever - there will always be people on that short end of the bell curve. They''ll have to learn to deal and fix their problem late. And, yes, there already is EMS bandwidth... DUH! But, last time I checked population GROWS. Meaning we need new and more services all the time. Not to mention we''re always wanting to improve upon the services they already provide. Yeah, let''s just say we have enough supermarkets and let the federal government delay opening any more, because we already have a lot... that''s just arrogant stubbornness! And, sorry, but this is a partisan issue. Dems have always been the spenders, Reps do it, too, but Dems are the ones who spend on all these "entitlement" programs. They''re doing it again. Why? Because giving away things for free will make them look good and get them votes. Always has, always will. We will vote ourselves into socialism in no time. And, lastly, the FCC is set out to make money - as EVERY gov''t organization should. When you put capitalism into your business model, suddenly fiscal efficiency and responsibility becomes important. And last time I checked, that''s important to keep things running. Their not doing this switch just to make cash. They''re doing it to provide more services to the existing populous and to allow for more service to a growing populous. Not just TV and entertainment, but the space they''re freeing up by shrinking the bandwidth. The money the FCC made is for the budget - they shouldn''t have to fund converter boxes out of it - and the federal gov''t shouldn''t have to spend it out of their coffers, either. Actually, one more point. A question, really. HOW IN THE HE77 do you let your coupon expire? If you cared enough to get one, why didn''t you USE IT? Anyone on here who has more than one, or who let any expire is wasteful and is part of, not just this, but a LOT of the fiscal problem we have as a country. That''s just irresponsible. You basically forced the federal government to sit on funds they were planning to use, but now they can''t. Or you selfishly decided you needed extra boxes, and now others are left without. That is just arrogant, selfish, he77, it''s gluttonous. I currently can''t pick up OTA stations. I live in sizable town that''s just close enough, and just far enough away from towns with stations and transmitters. This means I MIGHT get something with an expensive rooftop antenna AND a motor. I don''t know if the all-or-nothing or extra power in digital will mean I will continue to get squat or start picking something up. I don''t have cable, I did, but Charter ... stinks here. I have DirecTV and my "local" stations denied my waivers to receive the East/West Coast feeds on satellite. I have absolutely no locals. Why can''t I complain to the Federal Gov''t and get them to subsidize my antenna, or my "local" stations so they can up their transmit power? Some of you argue for the subsidizing of this mess because the gov''t is who is enacting a change that will make people''s current equipment obsolete and that''s different from the beginning of OTA broadcasts. I see your point. I even think it''s valid. The gov''t changed something making your equipment obsolete. However, I will always disagree that the gov''t should pony up and help people convert in a case as this. TV is still a privilege. And for those of you who argue that TV provides emergency messaging service... BS. No, it does not. I have NEVER seen an emergency message on TV that was anything more than a banner across the bottom. Besides, the odds of actually WATCHING TV while one of these messages airs is next-to-nothing. Furthermore, emergency radio is FAR more informative, and a receiver can be bought for less then $10 at Wal-Mart - which is in every podunk town and major city that has the poor and elderly who will live miserable lives without their TV to watch. Some final points: --It''s not the government''s place to provide for privileges, only rights, OTA is not a right, never has been, and I hope to goodness it never will be. --People have known for ages. Those who don''t know don''t likely watch the stations that will be affected anyway. --If you''ve got a problem with the education, get your DA to go after Circuit City (too late

To DTV for ME: I tried to get the OTA DTV signals in my suburban house with only partial success. I was only able to repeatably get half of the station transmitting DTV. This was using an indoor UHF antenna that I bought specially designed (whatever that means) for DTC reception. This house is 8-15 miles from the transmitting antennas. If I have marginal reception in this environment, I expect even less (or none) in the boonies, where the nearest station is 60 miles away over mountainous terrain.

Lots of good comments here, and some bad ones. (1) The Republican vs. Democrat / conservative vs. liberal stupidity is just that: stupidity. Since the 1960s the Congress (the real power in Washington, in case you are confused) has been controlled by both parties. Our total indebtedness, counting unfunded Social Security / Medicare / Medicaid obligations, is about $54 TRILLION dollars. That''s an additional $540,000 or so debt for every taxpayer. BOTH parties got us into this mess, so it''s useless and stupid to keep trading licks over which is better. It''s going to take ALL OF US to get OUT of the financial hole, and it''s unlikely that ANY of us is going to live to see that completed. The question: Are you going to demand from your Congress that they become financially responsible, or are you going to keep hoping that "your side" wins so "your causes" get funded??? As far as the transition itself is concerned, it''s already so badly bungled from 16 years of mismanagement (that's right, political partisans, both parties have dirty hands here) that there''s no way to make it come out correctly. The modulation scheme is not all that good on multipath, the channelization almost guarantees interference in some places, the tolerance of the receivers for interference is inadequate, the coupon plan was badly structured, mounds of misinformation / disinformation about who will and will not be affected--whatever could have been done to this to make it fail, someone's probably already done it. It may be best to (a) set up a mechanism to provide assistance to folks who aren''t able to make things work, (b) correct the expiring coupons, and (c) start the process so we can identify the dimensions of the mess, and then start cleaning it up. Elderly and shut-ins WILL be left behind; we need to help them along. I'm game...anyone else?

The liber americans are ether so stupid or out of touch. the house reps couldn''t stop an ant in the house let a lone a house bill. Poor americans who didn''t get thier free handouts so they can set on thier buts and watch TV. We all knew this was coming but feel sorry for me. Maybe you''ll get up a get some exersice so I won''t have to pay for your health care!!!

Why do I only hear House republicans fought the bill. If all the Democrates voted for it, it would pass. Another example of the Democrate press making up the news.

The February transition should be in tact but the new spectrum auction should be delayed. You will never know where the problems are (and never fix them) until you pull the switch. Some of the spectrum may need to be taken back to fix the problems.

Amazing those saying Obama is all image and no substance. This after 8 years of the worst president maybe in history. Grow up, children and admit that having a bright, focused, and clear headed leader might be a good thing for a change. All he has asked so far is that instead of griping and compainging and waiting for someone else to solve all your problems, you get out and help be part of the process. Being positive is going to bring a whole lot more positive benefits to all than being negative every has or will.

There are just a couple of things that have been written that I''d like to respond to... The first is that TV engineers are having great fun playing with their new toys (i.e. Digital TV). I know many engineers, and I have yet to find one that such a statement describes. The engineers I know have been pulling their hair out for the past 10 or so years trying to make their own sense of this "transition". They''re the one''s who have had to meet budgets and deadlines to have all this new digital equipment installed. Sounds easy at the outset, but most have had to install new antennas on towers that were never meant to hold more than one, have had to install additional transmitters in rooms that were designed to hold one transmitter, and, in some cases, have basically had to start from scratch building an entirely new facility to hold the digital equipment. Management says "do it", but its the engineers that actually have to make it happen and somehow keep it within budget. For those here who don''t know, each TV station has spent millions of dollars to get ready for this "transition"... something that was forced on them - Do you really think any TV station asked for this? I think many engineers would be offended to know that the perception out there is that they''re "having fun playing with their new toys". As for electricity? Perhaps many of you don''t know that it''s not unusual for a TV station to have a montly electric bill in the $10,000 to $20,000 range (yes, I meant to put in all those zeros - makes your own electric bill not seem so bad, huh? - and that''s just the bill to run the transmitter!!!!)... and I might find some high-power UHF''s who would say those numbers are somewhat on the low side. Now imagine that you are federally mandated to install a second transmitter and double your electric bill. I''m sure you wouldn''t be able to afford your house electric bill if you''d been paying double for it for at least the past 5 years. You''d want to make a change to bring that cost more into a "normal" range, right? In this economy, wouldn''t it make more sense to pay that extra, say, $20,000 a month to 4, 5, or 6 employees who could use the work instead of to some electric company? Ok, but now my biggest beef... I own an LPTV (low-power TV) station and 2 translators. The government has been telling people for at least a year now that they will lose all over-the-air TV on February 17th. That is a flat out lie. Only a handful of LPTV''s are going digital and my stations will not, so there will still be plenty of TV to watch with your old "worthless" analog television... but the government isn''t telling anyone that... why not? In the industry, we know what the difference is between high-power and low-power broadcasters, and who is high-power and who is low-power... To the public, they turn on their TV, tune it to a station, see a picture, and think... wow, a TV station! They have no idea what a full-power or a low-power TV station is. They''re being told they will lose it all on February 17th. Won''t everyone be surprised when that doesn''t happen? And, many LPTV''s provide good service to their communities, and many carry religious or non-english programming... some even carry the networks! And we''re wondering why people are confused? And while I''m on the confused rant... Satellite TV & Cable are using the "transition" to make lots of money and gain lots of new subscribers, when you don''t need them to receive your local TV stations... and then, go to the electronic stores... I spoke with one person who told me she had gone to a store and asked what she needed to continue receiving TV on her cable connection. She was told she needed a new HDTV or she''d lose everything on February 17th. Obviously the salesperson either lied to her to make a sale, or is just plain out dumb. And then there''s the converter-box problem... do we need to go there again? There is so much lying and deception going on, it''s no wonder people are confused. We in the industry will be lucky if people don''t just give up and throw their TV''s away... oh wait, we''ve already established in what''s been written here that TV''s are just as important as gas, electric, water, and probably life itself. What a sad society we live in, and that from a TV station owner. Someone here has complained that the government shouldn''t be paying for entertainment. I don''t disagree. In the latter days of the Roman Empire, the government couldn''t spend enough money to keep its citizens entertained and finally ended up bankrupting itself. Hmmm... $700+ billion banking bailout with more to come... $1.5 billion for converter boxes with more to come... I won''t criticize Obama or Bush or Clinton or whoever... the facts are simple... Our government is already way in debt and they are pouring out money to "save" and "entertain" us. It doesn''t take an economic genius ro realize that such activities can''t go on forever... Is this a sign of where we''re headed? I hope not... but.............

There's so much garbage and journalistic bias on television that those that want 'news' or entertainment may as well get their fix on the radio or internet until they can afford the converter or a new TV. Let's not forget that TV's are now a small fraction of the cost that they were 30 years ago in terms of inflation adjusted dollars.

Time to sh*t and get off the pot.........this DTV fiasco has dragged on far too long. Between the delays and moving target dates and the debates as to what technology to be used (early on), it is time we move forward.

Ok, So all of us or ready or let our coupons expire, but look around to those outside of you normal social and age group. Does the elderly widow or widower down the street have enough convertors, One for their kitchen, living room, bedroom? Who insures the wheelchair bound lady next to her has something to do when she is dropped off from "day care". Will you give them your convertor? Take them to the store? Look in on them at all? Replace/Dispose of their old sets? It not just about the able. The DTV change will happen eventually with or without them. What else can you do besides ensuring they have have some simple form of mental stimulation. No one will suffer without TV, but I challenge you to stay home alone, ALONE for the weekend and not turn one on. The change can wait.

Our student workers from rural Texas say that over Christmas the TV stations in their hometowns blanketed the airwaves with commercials and stories about the switch, so all mentally competent TV viewers know about the switch. The same is true in our area, where several TV stations have already made the switch. The real crime here is that TV manufacturers were still selling analog TVs to unwitting consumers many years after the switch was passed into law.

the expired coupons should be reinstated or be allowed to be redeemed. many expired without the recipients knowledge.

One of the writers rightly noted that TV is not like Utilities and no one is likely to die because they can''t see the evening news. To be fair, we should go ahead as planned because most of the over-air and cable TV sources have invested heavily into the necessary equipment (and/or Spectrum) to meet the mandated changeover, and they deserve to get a timely return. If I was one of those that would be without TV,I am not without other means to learn what is going on in the world. Newspapers (Local & National), Radio and the local Library are just fine thank you. If TV is vital to my existence, I will find a way to get a digital receiver just like we did when TV was first introduced. Actually I spend much more time in the morning reading the paper and later in my car listening to radio than I spend in front of the Boob Tube (there is a reason they call it that). As much as I may be empathetic with the poor and the rural, I vote to GET ON WITH IT!!

From what I can tell the government hasn't 'spent' ALL the money, the $$$ are tied up in expired coupons. What was the reason to have such a short expiration date anyway. Can the expired coupons be mailed back and re-distributed to those who need it? How many think the price of a box was increased by $40.00 because of the coupon. If the government has stayed out of this, these converter boxes would be selling for $20-30 instead of $60-80. Also KB, no one here brought up partisan politics except you, we are talking about the duties of the Federal Government which according to the constitution is limited to Protection from foreign invaders, the mail, the mint and the courts. Health Education and Welfare was to be up the States. Now the Feds are in the TV business!!!

Five years wasn''t enough? That''s how long people had to arrange and plan for the change. It''s not the money, it''s the process. People are resistant to change and don''t want to learn anything new. I sympathize with the poor and the elderly but enough has been done by TV stations, Internet, magazine articles, newspaper articles and public events to educate and enlighten the masses. I doubt that the extra time will get the slackers moving forward. Change is inevitable. This affects more than just TV. In fact, it will reduce RFI and electrical consumption. Wake up America!

I've been told that most stations are broadcasting both analog and digital now, and don't have enough power to do both, so that the analog signal, at least, suffers. If there's a delay, the government needs to purchase transmitters and subsidize the stations' electricity.

DTV has NO VALUE for the general public. It is just a way for engineers to have a cool factor and companies to steal more money from the general public by implimenting pay per packet fees. I am sure that once this very poor system gets online that within a few years everyone is going to regret this crap from ever being implimented in the first place. Well, everyone will get what they deserve and that will be fun to watch more than the DTV. In the end, this scam is about tranfering money to greedy people who don't deserve it.

My 83 year father is a very bright man. Runs his investment strategy on a yellow legal pad and kicks my over-paid investment adviser?s tush. Yet this DTV transition baffled my dad. He figured he needed all new TVs to hook up to his existing cable service. The salesman at one of those national chains sure did not see fit to explain new TVs were not required. My point: the current DTV ad campaign has not been effective for all populations and needs more work. Not everyone in this country is a tech geek.

How self centered can we all be? Obviously most of the "bloggers" on this blog are technically oriented...so the switch is not an issue. How about folks not as technically oriented? Say folks in their 80's. The DTV switch has failed to help the folks who can least manage the change. The agencies responsible for the switch have failed. It is time we let them address the problem. If it means they have to take a bit longer to clean up their mess....so be it. It is not a Republican or a Democrat or an Obama problem....it is the problem of a poorly managed and an ill executed project by the agencies in charge.

I agree the less people watch TV the better they will be in the long run. Maybe they should pick up a book and read. Maybe take the time to learn english. If they want it so bad and they knew it was coming for over two years. Why didn't they save some money to buy one of its that important. Oh I know why, Get it for free from the goverment. More Tax dollars down the drain

Leaving the transition date intact is best. No TV will spur the lazy into action. It's not like there is anything on TV anyway. BTW, the fundamental reason for the change is to free up more spectrum that the government can SELL (auction) or use for other purposes. Analog TV is very spectrally inefficient. However, I doubt that we'll see the ridiculous bidding wars for this spectrum that we saw in the 3G auctions of the early 2000s. The government is going to sell frequency! Not even AIR. Nothing to make, no cost of goods sold, just pure PROFIT! I wish we could do this EVERY year! Honestly, I think it would be more appropriate to LEASE the spectrum for 10-20 years. That way more than one administration can benefit from the windfall sale. I agree that we have MUCH bigger fish to fry. I have had my converters for months now. I don't see any reason to get cable unless I want to give my remote finger a better workout (700 channels of nothing vs 6 channels of the same). Hang in there guys. It's going to be a bumpy ride.....

Folks have had over a year to get ready for this. Does Osama Obama really believe that 6 months is going to help the prepare any more? Isn''t this a change he should embrace? Why doesn''t he focus on something that really needs attention ... like the economy.

Just do it. Poeple who aren't erady now won't be ready in June either.

The FCC sold the standard TV space to whomever for $17B. That is the reason for the change. It''s not the principle of the thing, it''s the money. The people affected are in red states, so who cares, right? The fact that 6.5M people stand to lose free access to public information through a 50+ year TV standard does not seem to register with people on this blog. The implied assumption is that everyone lives in a city and has either cable, satellite or broadband Internet at $40-100/month, and if they don''t, they are among the unwashed and unworthy of concern. Let them suck it up, read, go for walks and eat cake. The problems with DTV have been known and discussed for a long time. Buying a converter box does not mean that you will get TV equivalent to analog, or even get it at all. The result will be that some of the 6.5 M viewers will lose TV altogether. They will have to shell out $40-100/month to get it. This situation has the potential of a political firestorm.

I am glad they didn't delay the switch over time. Let the procrastinators watch videos. They don't delay April 15th

Folks... it's all about the MONEY. Politics aside, the F.C.C. has been mandated by Congress to make MONEY. The only commodity they have to sell is Radio Frequency Spectrum. Telcos (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc.) have boatloads of cash. {Just look at your cell phone /cable TV /satellite TV bill every month.} When the transition to DTV occurs the "government" expects to make big money in selling spectrum to them. The rest of the nonsence is a smoke screen to cover the public's reaction to loosing analog TV. For example the Emergency services radio argument. The F.C.C. already has spectrum for emergency radio. Enhanced 911 already uses curtrent spectrum. And now the buzz word is "White Space". Again a vheicle for the F.C.C. to make money for the Government. These are "Public Airwaves" they are not OWNED by the F.C.C. The F.C.C.'s original role was to administrate spectrum as to prevent interference to/from radio services (Radio, TV & Satellite communication included). Now their goal is to generate cash.

I believe that a lot of retired people and people in rural areas are going to be blindsided when the switch occurs, and their TV doesn''t work. I suspect that a lot of US respresentatives are going to be looking for new jobs in two years.

I agree not to delay, but increase the funding and speed of coupon distribution. I was one that got the coupons early, but failed to read that they expired. I have two expired coupons now. Yes I SHOULD have used them when I got them. I could also now use the coupons, after having been laid off at the end of December. johng34 Sr. Mfg/Test Engineer

Maybe we should not have put in roads until everyone had a car. There has been more than adequate public notice on the change. People will get on board eventually. The money has been invested by the stations, get on with it.

The irrelevancy of this makes it highly strategic. Obama is in a much stronger position on his proposals where the outcome is meaningful (ie the stimulus bill) when all the Obama-naysayers have something else to complain about. Some members of Congress are out to prove they are not going to go along with Obama in these first 100 days. Much better that they disagree on DTV then on something important. Everyone wins here with no bad consequences. Full disclosure: I cannot receive DTV and the only reason I wanted it to pass is so I could procrasstinate more before I got around to dealing with it.

The reason the Govement (taxpayers) is providing the coupons is to only partially compensate owners for an action that obsoleted existing equipment. As I recall the revenue from auctioning off the spectrum was -much- more than the cost of the coupon program. This is much differnet than subsudising TV sets for everyone.

Converters can be purchased for under $50 and ATSC TVs for less than $200. It''s not likely that anyone that hasn''t dealt with the problem in the last few years will do so before any deadline. It''s too disruptive and costly. Congress has better things to be doing than wasting time on extensions, (which they would probably do a couple more times anyway)

I don't know why the government is granting any monies for the entertainment (or lack of it) offered by TV. Who cares if the nightly non-news about Washington is even broadcast?

For Steve S: Just because you get a marginal analog picture does not mean DTV will fail. We actually get much better reception using a cheap "Zenith" brand (made in China - brand names used to mean something) converter box than we did before. Almost all stations are broadcasting DTV (and analog) at this point so there is no reason not to find out. If you do have problems a relatively cheap (UHF only) antena upgrade should fix things.

Who says it's only for cell phones, "SAY NO TO DTV." You apparently do not have a clue, so I'll help you out. The freed-up spectrum is going primarily to EMERGENCY SERVICES. EMS who have PAID the FCC for the licenses to use it starting after the Feb. transition. So they're just supposed to wait... and the FCC give them a refund... MORE TAX DOLLARS... you MUST be a Dem!!! And to Steve S: there are PLENTY of people, like myself, who do NOT live in podunk and I still can't get a single OTA channel. I don't even sort of get them. I never have and I won't with DTV. Stop thinking you're entitled to this. It's a service provided by PRIVATE industry, not the government - and thank goodness for that!!! If there were enough demand in your area, capitalism would take over and put a signal for you to pick up. Sheesh, you're vacation home doesn't get reception... I am SOOOO sorry. My home-home doesn't get it and I'm not over here telling my local, state or federal gov't they need to do something. It's not their place. Stop the entitlement mentality folks!!!!!!

Anyone who is not ready after seeing all the messages on tv will not be ready if you wait another 6 months or 6 years. They are probably uninformed voters too!

Politics at it's finest. Republicans are obviously still bitter that they didn't win the White House. So, expect more of the partisan politics in the near future until cooler heads prevail and we get back to doing what's right for the country. Oh, wait, wishful thinking on my part I suppose.

A delay for any reason is a waste of time. The people who are not ready, are not ready for lack of equipment or money, but because of procrastination. I go door-to-door selling U-Verse to all and people will be no more ready in June than they are now.

What I fail to understand is why it is the federal gov't's responsibility to make sure people get TV in the first place. Since Roosevelt we've become a country with a terribly strong sense of entitlement. TV over the air at least requires a TV, and in the days of Analog-only the federal gov't didn't subsidize TV sets so people could get their well-needed broadcasting. What's to change now? There was a change from no-air broadcasting to "things being broadcasted" once upon a time, and this is no different now. It's just a change in the way things are broadcast. It's not like people haven't had well over a YEAR to try for the coupons. Relatively speaking, they only RECENTLY ran out of money and started a waiting list. Not to mention, some households are applying for, and hold unexpired coupons for converter boxes and that is why we're in this mess. I don't think we should ever have issued the coupons in the first place. But since it was done, someone should have made sure it was done responsibly. If the gov't is so worried about the poor and elderly being left out, they should have had income restrictions. They also should have had a 1-per-household restriction. I work with two engineers, one of whom registered for one coupon and another registered for two. How irresponsible? I don't believe in this sense of entitlement crap, and neither do they, supposedly, but they're the ones trying to get it. Just goes to show, when you give away something for free, everybody lines, even those not in need. It's $40-80, an engineer can afford that!!! I have a TV ready for the transition, and one not, but I don't care about preparing it with a "free" converter from Nobama. I'm well enough off I will leave that to his supposed poor and elderly who need their precious TV. Not to mention, a LOT of people think they need a box, a new TV and cable service for this to work. Others don't realize that if they've got cable or satellite that they're gonna be just fine - every satellite box is already digital, and has been for years. Most cable has been as well, and regardless, you're pretty much stuck to a cable box with cable service anyway. The only people left in the cold are those who rely solely on OTA broadcasts. And it is not the gov't's responsibility to make sure they're covered. Otherwise they should be buying TV sets as well. Get over your sense of entitlement people or Marx will be right and we will eventually vote ourselves straight into socialism!!!

They should have waited longer to obtain the proper equipment since a lot of people are not ready and it is confusing. I myself still waiting for the coupons to arrive.

It has been a couple of years since I first protested that the change from NTSC to digital was a bad and very costly idea. It has happened anyway. We might as well get it over with. Converter boxes are a stopgap measure and work poorly in many cases. I have one, I know. We are all going to by new sets, disk systems,recorders etc. The Chineese need the money.

While I have fiber at my main house (and so won''t be affected by the switch to DTV), our weekend retreat in the mountains is over the air. I had satellite for a while, but the price kept increasing and we decided it wasn''t worth it for one weekend a month. We are in a fringe area for all the TV channels we can get. That''s around 6 when the rotor is working. None of the channels are clear - they all have "snow", some worse than others. I am really concerned that with the all of nothing nature of DTV, when the cutover happens, I will get nothing. That''s like the government telling me I have to sign up with Direct TV, because if I want reception, that will be my only choice.

I expect the additional purchasing of Digital TV's will help stimulate the economy a bit. I would have opted for the June date myself to help attenuate a sharp rise in Burglery. Black Market TV Sales will soar once the conversion is made in February. GOP look out, the Dem's will be after your sets....

I grew up without TV You can still get HIP-HOP on Radio, so what's the fuss

DTV - in itself is a political scam. We all have to covert from ''free'' TV, that we have for about the past 50 years. Too, a narrow band so that providers of more cell phones and other paid services can get the spectrum (more money going where???). Look at the images that you now get . . . BTW, most if not all images are digital. See if you notice the ''artifacts'' . . . poor initial resolution, dumped lines, dumped frames, fill-ins . . . etc.

Delay will result in more confusion and increase cost. The government should focus in getting our economy back in track instead of wasting time on this.

Obama needs the media since he has nothing to offer but image. If he loses the audience, then he has none of the love-affair media impact.-

The people (victims) have had more than enough time to get themselves ready for DTV. Those morons who have not done the work are very similar to the butt-heads in New Orleans who were warned to leave and waited for the govt to give them a gold plated ticket out of town. Let them suffer without the worthless TV signals until they get off their lazy butts and help themselves......

WHAT "public confusion"? I don't see a confused public.

TV's going black, or really we should say white noise (snow). I agree, there is a lot to like about this. People might go out and talk with their neighbors. Get some exercise. DIY projects around the house. Volunteer for something. Heavens, even read. I am trying to figure out how TV service became essential, like electricity, water, sewer, natural gas, etc. So few shows on the TV are worth the time to even watch.

How about listening to the radio, instead?

Purely a political stunt by Obama. Obama has bigger fish to fry that trying to figure out how to get all the Obama voters a TV Signal to hear all his eloquent but unsubstantial speeches after the DTV cut-in date so his liberal propaganda can reach all Americans through the over-the-airwaves transmitted Mainstream News Media TV stations. All Obama. All the Time. Obama is playing the "Victim Mentality" once again and projecting himself as the Knight in shining armor to defend the oppressed. Which is all a facade, but the Obama supporters haven't figured that out yet with tObama's Honeymoon Affair currently on display daily by the Liberal News Media.

What a group of idiots we have in congress the converters cost a lot of money and the transition is not going be that great or easy. To delay this for 90-120 days seems only right in view of not enough funding for the converter boxes.

What a group of idiots we have in congress the converters cost a lot of money and the transition is not going be that great or easy. To delay this for 90-120 days seems only right in view of not enough funding for the converter boxes.

I have no problem with them adding more funds to the CECB coupon program, and even expediting how quickly they are sent out (seemed last fall to be once a month). But do NOT delay the transition. Don''t we have MORE IMPORTANT things to be working on!!??!!

If the people that lose their analog signal turn off their televisions and turn nothing else on, aren't we cutting electrical consumption by quite a few Megawatts? What's not to like?