Feb. 17 DTV Date May Have To Move

[Mark Holtz]

Sen Rockefeller is a sore loser ... he voted against setting February 17th as the date back in 2005 and now he is using his power to corrupt the system further.So, have you written your letter to Congress yet? You can easily e-mail it to all of your representatives via www.congress.org . The one I sent today got a automated "yes, I received your message" from my congressman already.

Look, there are a bunch of issues of concern to the members of DBSTalk. It is easy to complain about it here in online forums. It's a bit harder to take the next step and write your representatives. The trick is to keep it short and concise while taking your point. One issue, one leter AND refer to which bill. Since I did not know what the bill number was, I referred to the "DTV Delay Act as proposed by Senator Rockefeller". That will make it counted in the right stack.

[James Long]

So, have you written your letter to Congress yet?Yes, as noted in this and another thread.

[Herdfan]

Stations will voluntarily shut down their analog signals at will. For many stations (I'm willing to say MOST stations) the shutdown will NOT be delayed. There will be a few (100 or less, in my opinion) who will embrace the extension and keep their analog signals running. MOST stations will not delay shutdown.

But how long will this take until some station in a market makes every one think they are shutting down along with all the other stations, but when the witching hour comes, they stay on. Now all those poor old people only have one station to watch and this station looks like a hero.

[Retro]

The should have made the switch date the day before the Super Bowl! That would've lit a fire under some people!:lol:

[Dave]

It would seem that both factions have come to together for a compromise. The will vote this week for a delay until June 12 and they will allow any stations ready fro the changeover to go ahead and make the changeover if, they the station wants to.

[James Long]

It would seem that both factions have come to together for a compromise. The will vote this week for a delay until June 12 and they will allow any stations ready fro the changeover to go ahead and make the changeover if, they the station wants to.And the stations that are waiting for another station in order to make a change?

Who wins? If WOOD TV8 in Grand Rapids decides not to terminate analog as expected on February 17th that will prevent WWMT TV3 in Kalamazoo from moving to their final DTV assignment on channel 8 (WOOD's DT is on channel 7). Will the law be written to favor WWMT's effort to move to their final channel or in favor of an effort (hypthetical) by WOOD to remain on the air in analog? Which service is protected?

The same goes for WANE TV15 in Fort Wayne ... a station that is broadcasting at 317kW instead of 1000kW to protect WPXD TV31 in Ann Arbor's analog signal. Can WPXD refuse to turn off their analog and block WANE from being full power digital?

The only compromise I support is allowing analog stations that do not interfere with ANY digital operation to continue ... similar to the analog nightlight program. ZERO INTERFERENCE WITH DIGITAL BROADCASTING.

[Art7220]

Remember when they took the spectrum from UHF channels from 70-83? Are they using any of that for these new uses?

What's going to happen when the gov. needs more money? Which analog spectrum will be next to go digital?

(This can be moved to wherever it fits.)

[James Long]

Remember when they took the spectrum from UHF channels from 70-83? Are they using any of that for these new uses?70 to 83 became 800 MHz cellular phones and the SMR service best known as Nextel (among other users and carriers). Many of these services will be moving or expanding into the recently emptied TV channels (700 MHz) and Nextel was given PCS band frequencies to get them away from other SMR users where interference was being seen.

What's going to happen when the gov. needs more money? Which analog spectrum will be next to go digital?

(This can be moved to wherever it fits.)There is no appropriate forum here for the first part of that question. :D

As far as the second part, I believe radio will be the next to go digital and I hope that it is handled a lot better than this analog TV conversion.

[Mark Holtz]

From Google/AP:

Delay in analog TV shutdown presents challengesWith the clock ticking toward the Feb. 17 deadline for TV broadcasters to shut off their analog signals and go entirely digital, analysts say more than 6.5 million households are not ready. Now Congress appears poised to postpone the transition to June — but a delay could bring its own problems.FULL ARTICLE HERE (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlGcM0ZxYV5dDtZR_9xfCPZnkFaAD95T4LV80)

This is worth reading, and illustrates how extending the deadline at this stage would cause plenty of harm.

[joshjr]

I dont want to see it delayed either. This crap about making a easy transition is never gonna happen. Whats to stop it in June from being delayed again. Some people will never be ready. As long as the converter boxes are available then if people freak out they just need to go spend $50 and then their tv will be fixed. Thats better then needing a new tv. There is no time like the present. Lets get it over with and move on.

[samhevener]

Oh yeah ! If Congress (what is the opposite of progress ?) actually manages to pass a bill that lets stations shutdown on Feb 17, but to also allow broadcasts until June 12 - that will create far more chaos than just leaving it alone on Feb 17.

Sam is complaining now - what happens if the bill gets passed / signed and a significant number of stations just decide to shutdown anyway ? There is already over 300 stations that have or will have shutdown analog by Feb 17 regardless of an extension being passed or not. One station in South Dakota is shutting down analog right after the Super Bowl ( http://www.kdlt.com/ ) on Feb 1.

The way the bill could possibly make Sam and company happy would be to PREVENT stations from shutting down before June 12 - and that is NOT what is being proposed.

Be careful what you ask for Sam - you may get it.... and it may not be the results you were looking for. I think there is a misconception that I am wishing for or want an extension. That is uncorrect. I'm ready to go and have been for 6 months. The point that I am trying to make is that knowing Americans, there will be an extension. As for the bill and the details, the bill hasn't passed yet, I think Congress is going to take it up this week. It may or may not be the same as detailed last week. We will see. As for the coupons, a friend of mine told me about his elderly neighbor. She received her coupons about 5 months ago. She became sick and spent some time in the hospital and by the time she was able to purchase the adapter boxes the coupons had expired. She was not able to have replacement coupons sent to her.

[joshjr]

I think there is a misconception that I am wishing for or want an extension. That is uncorrect. I'm ready to go and have been for 6 months. The point that I am trying to make is that knowing Americans, there will be an extension. As for the bill and the details, the bill hasn't passed yet, I think Congress is going to take it up this week. It may or may not be the same as detailed last week. We will see. As for the coupons, a friend of mine told me about his elderly neighbor. She received her coupons about 5 months ago. She became sick and spent some time in the hospital and by the time she was able to purchase the adapter boxes the coupons had expired. She was not able to have replacement coupons sent to her.

She just needs to have someone she knows put on the list. If they fund more money then she will be set. Im sure she has a relative that would do it. If I need more my mom and dad have not signed up for any.

[Italia]

Short of having FCC commandos kick in every door across the US and install converter boxes, someone will be lose their TV. It doesn't matter what the date is, Feb 18, June 12, stardate 52330.12, someone will wait and then complain.

You are 100% right! Push it out five years....the complaints will still come in. If you have no clue about this at this point, then when will you?

[scooper]

I think there is a misconception that I am wishing for or want an extension. That is uncorrect. I'm ready to go and have been for 6 months. The point that I am trying to make is that knowing Americans, there will be an extension. As for the bill and the details, the bill hasn't passed yet, I think Congress is going to take it up this week. It may or may not be the same as detailed last week. We will see. As for the coupons, a friend of mine told me about his elderly neighbor. She received her coupons about 5 months ago. She became sick and spent some time in the hospital and by the time she was able to purchase the adapter boxes the coupons had expired. She was not able to have replacement coupons sent to her.

Sam - I realize that , and this maybe a bit unfair, but I was using you as a euphunism for those who wish to delay it. Please accept my apologies if you took that as personal.

Personally - I see no reason good enough to delay it - I think Sen. Rockefeller has rocks where his brains should be about this. The easiest possible way to deal with it at this point is to let it stand and have the stations do an orderly transition as currently scheduled. Then go back and help the needy who need / want help, and let the able procastinators take care of themselves.

[James Long]

As for the coupons, a friend of mine told me about his elderly neighbor. She received her coupons about 5 months ago. She became sick and spent some time in the hospital and by the time she was able to purchase the adapter boxes the coupons had expired. She was not able to have replacement coupons sent to her.Part of the description of Rockefeller's bill is allowing people to reapply for coupons. Better than unexpiring the millions of expired coupons, IMHO, and not a bad idea.

Rockefeller's plan isn't all bad ... just leave the date alone.

[Retro]

As the article clearly states, there is a major trickle down effect to delaying that in my opinion will cause more problems than not delaying it... The government just needs to refill the coupon funding program and let people know and that's it! A delay is likely to see some analog stations shut down and some not, while possibly causing interference for many signals while stations move around and some don't..

[HIPAR]

The major players in the top 25 DMAs will continue analog broadcasting until the final second authorized by the upcoming law. If they cause interference or channel juggling problems that prevent other operations from exercising their transition plans on Feb 17, then so be it.

Congress isn't capable enough to worry about those nitty gritty details that have no practical solutions. And, I'm afraid that's soon going to apply to many other things technical or otherwise. :rolleyes:

--- CHAS

[Mark Holtz]

Quoted in entirety from AP/Google:

AP NewsAlert
14 minutes agoWASHINGTON (AP) — Senate approves four-month delay in digital TV conversion.Original article here (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ijDA5bgxiHlTvS_r-SSjskS1Tq1wD95V527G1)

[Michael D'Angelo]

Please move discussion here......http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=150943

Thank you.