The problem is that the government has already sent out many of these coupons, some of which haven’t been used. Until they actually expire, though, they’re a liability to the government. On 7 January, the NTIA announced it would stop processing the coupon requests, because under government accounting rules, they couldn’t issue new coupons until some of the unused coupons expire. So, just as it’s getting close to the deadline, the NTIA is unable to process more requests.
Consumer Union’s solution is to put off the transition for some unspecified time, as well as provide for changes in accounting rules, or simply more funding, for the converter subsidy program. Putting off the conversion has its own problems, though — until the conversion, television stations have to maintain two separate broadcastsystems, with separate transmitters and antennae — and that’s expensive. In addition, the spectrum to be freed up has already been sold at auction to other companies that expect to be able to begin using it. So if the transition is put off, those companies will lose money, and all the advantages of moving to digital — new television channels, new cellular services, and new emergency services communications — will be lost.
So, on the one hand, delay the transition, and it hurts a lot of companies just at the time that continuing funding could be hard to come by; which could mean losses of jobs that no one wants to see. On the other hand, if it goes forward, there will be people who won’t be getting TV reception, and however you allocate the fault, it will be on the watch of the new Administration and Congress.
It appears that, no matter what the advantages, the incoming Obama Administration has decided it would rather avoid the possibility of being blamed for grandma’s “snow storm”. Just today, Obama surrogate John Podesta wrote the House and Senate Commerce Committees asking them to extend the deadline. It seems that emergency services will just have to wait.
<- Prev Page 2 of 2
Digg This
del.icio.us
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
21 Comments
1. Pajamas Media » Digital Changeover Forecast: Slight Chance of ‘Snow’:[...] Read more here. [...]
Jan 9, 2009 - 11:25 am 2. Richard:And Libs want the Government to run a national health care system? they can’t even run a coupon program effectively!
As far as more television broadcast is concerned; does that mean that there will be more reality shows? more inane sitcoms? more liberal propaganda news programs?
No thanks,turned off my cable reception two years ago and haven’t missed a thing.
Jan 9, 2009 - 12:52 pm 3. locomotivebreath1901:“…put off the transition for some unspecified time, as well as provide for changes in accounting rules, or simply more funding, for the converter subsidy program.”
Convoluted. Inefficient. More expensive.
Yup. That’s the same outfit I want ‘fixing’ the economy.
Krykee.
Tell me again why the federal gub’mint is in the business of helping people watch television??
Jan 9, 2009 - 1:44 pm 4. Jim Baker:The Democrat President has discovered that his Democrat voters haven’t bothered to upgrade their TVs, what, with the bad economy and all. So, we put off the changeover until the government can print more money to send out to all the Democrat voters that don’t know what is going on here.
Jan 9, 2009 - 1:51 pm 5. rocketeer:Goodbye George Bush. Hello runaway inflation and double digit unemployment. I predict it will take these collectivists about 10 years to get us into the food lines for our bacon and egg rations. I should laugh, but I can’t.
I don’t see what the big deal is. Make the change over, everyone that doesn’t seem to understand what the commercial’s are telling them will wake up and see snow, they’ll call someone they know who’s sort of “techy”, get some advice from them, go get a converter, and they’re back in front of their TV. You’ll have a couple days of moaning, then you get on with it. This IS NOT a national crisis here people. We’ve given these people FIVE years to figure this out for God’s sake.
Jan 9, 2009 - 2:36 pm 6. Ann:We watch very little television (probably average less than 45 minutes daily, including local news) and we are thoroughly sick of the ads about the converter boxes.
I agree with other comments: if people haven’t understood the point yet, the snow beginning to snow will probably accomplish the desired goal.
The handholding and dumbing down of our culture is truly stupifying.
Jan 9, 2009 - 4:05 pm 7. Charlie (Colorado):I’m kind of on the same side: no matter *what* they do, there’ll be hysterics at the changeover. Grow a pair and get on with it.
Jan 9, 2009 - 4:27 pm 8. Marc Boyd:In our household, we quit watching TV regularly over 10 years ago. In fact, the TV antenna was removed a few years back when we had a front porch added on. The TV has a DVD/CD and VHS player built in, so that is the most use it has seen…movies.
I have needed a new monitor for my computer for a while now. What I wound up buying was a 24″ monitor with a digital tuner built in. So I have HDTV and a cool monitor to boot. I added a UPS last year, and the new monitor/TV will let me watch Hurricane/disaster broadcasts if the power is out. I got Winegard’s omni antenna to replace the old relic, so we are in business as soon as I get it up.
I actually was not worried about “Snow” and I bet most people without converter boxes aren’t either.
Jan 9, 2009 - 4:40 pm 9. Nate:TV? Who watches TV anymore? Everyone who wants mindless drivel piped into their homes has cable by now. The rest of us can get by just fine with the internet, and if we need to recieve disaster reports there’s allways radio.
Jan 9, 2009 - 8:43 pm 10. Emma:Yes, just get on with it already. Clearly, anyone who doesn’t know about the switch at this point is already getting along just fine without a TV. The rest of us are sick of hearing about it.
Jan 10, 2009 - 3:58 am 11. Bob M:To Nate above: Who watches TV? Nationally about 10% of the total TV audience watches over the air television. Cable does not cover many areas of the country. Satellite is an option for many but not all. And some folks simply do not want to pay for something that is provided free.
Jan 10, 2009 - 7:35 am 12. xnylady:You also say, “and if we need to receive disaster reports there’s always radio” I would suggest that watching live radar images of a hurricane or line of severe thunderstorms during a tornado warning is difficult to accomplish with radio.
—
Back to the transition topic in general — the FCC and broadcast industry must share the blame for waiting until the last minute to begin promoting the transition. Digital broadcasts have been on the air since 2000, and most stations have been operating both digital and analog systems for at least five years. The original digital transition was to have happened in 2005 but was delayed until 2009. The Consumers Union is grossly ill informed to suggest another delay.
Get it done now. Will there be some people who lose their TV signals on February 18th? Certainly. I think the number will be smaller than is estimated. Most estimates are based on the number of converter boxes sold. I suspect many of those who have not purchased the subsidized boxes have either purchased new digital sets or have chosen to subscribe to either cable or satellite. For those who have not taken action, the shutdown will provide the kick in the rear they need to finally take action. Enough coddling.
If the Governmnet fixed it, it will not work. And nobama wants the Government to handle EVERYTHING? We are in serious trouble.
Jan 10, 2009 - 3:52 pm 13. Rashputin:Jim Baker – “I predict it will take these collectivists about 10 years to get us into the food lines for our bacon and egg rations. I should laugh, but I can’t.”
Both bacon and eggs are bad for you. You’ll be in food lines for your soy and healthy grains, morning, noon, and night. Free healthcare for all will rule out any foods that cause the community to pay more for your personal trivial pleasures. It’s about time people learned to love one good meal of grain per day and how to walk behind your oxen in the fields of your local lord. Not Communism, Communityism, managed by new nobility who know what the community really needs. The One is leading us all to a brighter future.
You can laugh. Laugh with joy as you consider how few generations it will take to revamp society into a bright new community of concerned souls and you’ll have no problem deferring your own petty desires for the good of your grandchildren.
Really, since the vast majority of folks have no intention of ever watering the tree of Liberty, it’s time to start getting with the program. People dumb enough to elect Obama deserve what they get, and people smart enough to know the system is totally broken but who never do anything about it deserve it twice as much.
Regards
Jan 11, 2009 - 8:43 pm 14. Andrew:(a) When unleaded gas was mandated, did the government buy everybody new cars? (b) If the coupon program runs out of money right at the analog cutoff date, that’s perfect timing! (c) Where is the government going to get the $40 for your converter coupon? Think about it. (d) The people who exercised due diligence got their coupons, and those who waited until the last minute may not. (e) This is a golden opportunity to give up television altogether.
Jan 12, 2009 - 11:29 am 15. Charlie (Colorado):Andrew, for once, they got it honestly: they allocated some of the money from the spectrum auction for the coupon program.
Which is another reason for not delaying the changeover — they don’t own that band any more, they sold it.
Jan 12, 2009 - 1:08 pm 16. wheelers_cat:Don’t u mean slight chance of Snowcrash?
Jan 13, 2009 - 9:09 am 17. vxbush:This is yet another reason why all media should be streamed over the Internet. While computers are not yet ubiquitous enough to make this viable, switching everything to internet protocols would mean that *all* broadcast media could be moved over for other more useful systems, specifically for the police, fire, ambulance, and government use. And if we move everyone to computers, maybe we can finally educate people and get them more interested in news than just 24 minutes at night.
Jan 13, 2009 - 2:25 pm 18. Charlie (Colorado):Wheelers, I didn’t, but I’m sorry I didn’t think of it now.
Jan 13, 2009 - 5:05 pm 19. jano4:There will always be people who do not make the change till the last minute. Same all the time….get on with it and do the change as planned. jeez….if you wake up with snow on the 17th and have only over the air TV you obviously don’t watch TV much…you can’t have missed the flood of ads….if you did…
Jan 14, 2009 - 12:50 pm 20. TexEd:This switch will again prove the idiocy of government. The $40 coupon is based on an invented number that some doofus gave the Congressional doofus.
Jan 14, 2009 - 5:18 pm 21. Will:There is a fund that allows a vendor to bill the US for $40 every time he sells a converter box. Once that fund is exhausted and the government subsidy disappears, the price of a converter will fall bigtime. Wal-mart will sell you an electric clock radio for about $10.
My bet is that a converter box in a “free” market will sell for about $5. The cost may go up in later years as manufacturers add “enhancements.” I’m thinking of a chip or two and a dish that allows pick of satellite TV signals.
Do we cave to the Slackers with more welfare? At this rate, give us about five years.
Jan 15, 2009 - 7:05 pm