James Delahunty
4 Feb 2009 19:36
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that seeks to delay the transition to all-digital television broadcasts in the United States until June 12th. The 264-158 vote delays the planned switchover from the original February 17th date. The delay, opposed by most Republicans, is supported by President Obama as up to 20 million households are thought to be unprepared for the transition.
Around 13 million people hold expired coupons to subsidize the cost of a digital converter box, which is needed for households with analog televisions after the switch. Millions of requests for coupons are currently pending as the supply has run out under demand. Those thought to be mostly affected by the switch are poor, elderly and rural households.
"We believe it is irresponsible to ask mostly rural, or elderly consumers to reach into their own pockets to deal with this transition when many folks, including the federal government, are making a profit," said Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst at Consumers Union. The U.S. Government raised about $19 billion from companies bidding for use of the vacated spectrum. Qualcomm, for example, paid $550 million to use the spectrum for its mobile video service. It was opposed to the delay.
Opponents to the delay claim it will feed confusion after millions of dollars have been spent by both the government and private companies to advertise the February 17th plan. U.S. television stations can opt to switch to digital early if they notify the public and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), but industry sources think it is unlikely many stations will choose this option for competitive reasons, especially with "sweeps weak" in March being so important from an advertiser's perspective.