Senate Passes Another Bill To Delay Digital TV Transition 318
An anonymous reader tips news that the US Senate has passed another bill to delay the transition to digital TV. This is the second such bill to pass the Senate; the first was narrowly defeated in the House. The new version has an important difference — it would allow the transition to take place gradually over the four-month period between the original transition date (February 17th) and the extended date (June 12th). TV stations around the country could choose when they wanted to make the change, allowing those who have already begun plans to stop analog transmission to continue their shut-down operations.
Going postal (Score:3, Funny)
it's fear. If tens of million of people can't watch TV for a week, there's going to be a lot of grumpy people. I suspect that some people won't even be able to sleep without their before bedtime TV ritual.
Just like when there's a black out and there's increase rioting there will be people milling around with nothing to do looking for trouble.
Yes a few "enlightened" individuals will have a rebirth as they discover life without TV. I predict a raft of books on the topic of self actualization in 6 months.
But a much large set will not take it well I think.
Then of course there's the simple logistics of how you stock and sell that many flat screen TVs. I suspect this is non-trivial. There just are not that many unhelpful sales clerks to go around, let alone to process the returns when people find a better buy the next week.
Don't say cable cause there are even less cable instalers and they are even less helpful.
plus think of your broadband when everyone on your block gets cable plus internet.
there will be price gouging. etc...
a staged transition sounds sensible to me.
So no more analog torrent files then? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What is the problem? (Score:5, Funny)
The problem is that when Abraham Lincoln and Jesse Helms wrote the constitution, they made it a right for the American people to have television. Now, 350 years later, congress changed the way TV has always been delivered - from an anolog microsft tower in Denver to a newer more technologically advanced 60 watt digital station located in Southern Pennsylvania.
The confusion has resulted in NASCAR cancelling their season, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue for Bud Light (a subsidiary of the Coors Brewing Company located in South Africa).
I hope that helps.
Re:How much MORE is this costing us? (Score:2, Funny)
>We switched to digital TV long ago in Finland (Honestly, I can't
>understand how you guys in the promised land of TV can be so
>far behind in this matter.
My experience, from living in various countries, is that the US is generally a bit behind the curve when it comes to consumer electronics technology, such as tv. We do tend to have more interesting things to watch on our tvs though.
Please tell. Quote your source.
Re:How much MORE is this costing us? (Score:3, Funny)
I know what you were going for, "American TV sucks", but if you're not going to do it right leave the comment for someone else to make.
My $0.02 (Score:3, Funny)
If they had set the cut off date to Feb 1st (Super Bowl Sunday), I bet all of those lazy ass idiots would have scrambled to get their boxes cut over. Now THAT would have generated a "stimulus package" without costing us any $$. Circuit City might even have remained in business, too. :-)
Re:How much MORE is this costing us? (Score:3, Funny)
While I agree that most of our States are odd, it's not quite fair to call them all odd.