Digital TV Conversion Put on Hold

According to The NPR, TV conversion from analog to digital has been delayed. The Senate gathered in Washington and all the members wholeheartedly voted for a four month delay in analog to digital TV conversion, and thus has been postponed to June 12, 2009. The stage was set for Congress to pass the scheme earlier on Tuesday.

The vote that happened on Monday's Senate meeting is considered a great victory for the Democrats who are in Congress and administration of Barak Obama. The reason they have had second thoughts and have voted for the delay is because Americans had some concerns with the conversion coming up so soon, by the 17th of February and just are not ready for the changeover yet.

The Nielsen Company says that there are more than 7 million U.S. households who rely on analog TV sets. Analog which signals in from the air broadcast, will not be able to continue, and digital TV conversion might hit them very hard. So the delay is good according to Nielsen Company.

Jay Rockefeller who is the committee chairman of the Senate commerce, says that digital TV conversion is the correct thing to do. According to the U.S. official people just are not yet prepared for this digital TV conversion.

The issue is getting it to the House. Henry Waxman, the committee chairman of commerce, has said that he will be working with House officials to propose a bill to bring a Rockefeller vote to the floor.

The new president Barak Obama asked earlier last month for the digital TV conversion date to be postponed. The Department of Commerce had the option of spending 1.34 billion US dollars on coupons that could be distributed to their consumers to use for the analog to digital conversion by getting converter boxes. The cost of each convert the box is around 50 US dollars. They could also be purchased on their own without a coupon.

The Department of Telecommunications and Informatics Administration which operates under the Commerce Department is now distributing new coupons and freeing more money. There are already 3 million coupon requests on a waiting list.

The vice president of the Digital TV transition, Jonathan Collegio, tells us that Nielsen's figures of customers who are not yet prepared for that digital TV conversion is not accurate. He says that customers who have already got a converter box along with those who are waiting for a coupon have been included in the list by Nielsen. The converter box is not necessary for customers who subscribe to cable as they'll have their own digital tuner box and they'll have good reception. Gene Kimmelman, the vice president of Federal Policy in Consumers Union says that millions of US citizens especially those who have very low income will lose the opportunity of watching analog TV which was free on air and they have to pay that cost now.

Congress wants digital TV conversion so that unnecessary wires could be used for other commercial purposes. Republicans extend their concerns over the digital TV conversion delay. 22 million US dollars is the expenditure of public broadcasters because of the digital TV conversion delay.

Associated Press, Senate OKs 4-Month Delay To Digital TV Conversion: NPR, NPR