A 2nd DTV Delay? Ridiculous!

[n3ntj]

Today, on TV I heard a discussion that the analog shutoff may have to be delayed until December 2009 because 'some people' still won't be ready in June. I find this totally ridiculous! What the heck have these people doing all this time? We all knew this was coming in Feb. If some people refused to act appropriately, heck with them!

[tcusta00]

Oh my, please say it ain't so. I hope it wasn't anyone with any pull. :eek2:

[Gonesouth]

This is what is going to happen for the near future! I would say more but do not want to make this a political discussion!

I am glad I do not have to worry about this.

:nono2:

[fluffybear]

Today, on TV I heard a discussion that the analog shutoff may have to be delayed until December 2009 because 'some people' still won't be ready in June. I find this totally ridiculous! What the heck have these people doing all this time? We all knew this was coming in Feb. If some people refused to act appropriately, heck with them!


There is always going to be someone who is not ready and talk about pushing back the date again. However, I do not believe a second delay would ever fly in congress asthe number not prepared decreases daily and far to many supporters (of the first delay) in congress made it quite clear that they would never support a second delay.

[Stuart Sweet]

Never say never, but at this point, let's say that another third of the total number of stations signs off in June even if there is a delay... what would be the point?

[boylehome]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are more delays. In fact they may just decide to scrap digital and return to analog:grin:

[Grentz]

Just stupid. "Everyone" is never going to be ready and that is a fact. Cut off their TV and then the rest will finally switch over.

I am starting to find it sickening that TV is that important, and if it is that important you should figure out how it works a tiny bit and take the warnings that have been going on for months, and even years in some cases, seriously.

[Mark Holtz]

I did a quick scan of Google News, and the only mention of a delay to December, 2009 would be in Australia.

[robmadden1]

Today, on TV I heard a discussion that the analog shutoff may have to be delayed until December 2009 because 'some people' still won't be ready in June. I find this totally ridiculous! What the heck have these people doing all this time? We all knew this was coming in Feb. If some people refused to act appropriately, heck with them!

Whats your source? What station did you hear this on?

[samhevener]

Today, on TV I heard a discussion that the analog shutoff may have to be delayed until December 2009 because 'some people' still won't be ready in June. I find this totally ridiculous! What the heck have these people doing all this time? We all knew this was coming in Feb. If some people refused to act appropriately, heck with them!
There won't be a second delay. Congress will never aprove it, in fact Congress will not even take the time to talk about a second delay. Where did this so called discussion get it's facts? Maybe another "talk show host" faking a point of view in order to improve his or her ratings. No "talk show host" ever received high ratings or stayed on the air by siding with the majority of the people. You are right, the point is totally ridiculous.

[Yes616]

Whats your source? What station did you hear this on?

Someone quoting Swanni Says maybe? :lol:

[Glen_D]

Didn't the Government sell off at least some of the analog spectrum? The buyers aren't going to wait around forever to make use of their purchase.

[jimmyv2000]

The Braodcasters had been drilling 2/17/09 into our heads for almost 2 years now.
Now the day is 6/12/09,Enough already.The FIRM DATE should be 6/12,no stories no exceptions!:D
If people aren't ready by then OH well too bad so sad.You had plenty of notice. Go get or hook up your box and be done with it.

Not to be too political here But congress should file a bill to add a line on the 2009 tax form for a converter box deduction of $40.00 per box up to 2.
Less money spent on coupons. Just my 2 cents

[SamC]

See I told you so.

The small market stations with the courage to hold to the original date have proven that the whole issue has absolutely nothing to do with the less than one percent of Americans who lack the intelect to ever be "ready" despite years of being given simple instuctions.

The "giveback" of these millions of dollars of frequencies in major cities will NEVER occur.

Never.

Now those who, for years, said the February date was "firm" and were wrong, and then said that the O&Os and their minions would "never ask again" and that the June date was "firm" will post that I, and everyone else who understands this issue, are off the mark, again.

And in July, and in December, and in July 2020, analog TV will still be up and running.

[dodge boy]

Someone quoting Swanni Says maybe? :lol:

Swanni is only good at predicting the past.....

[ercjncprdtv]

I can end this discussion right now...the bill revising the date to June 12th prohibits further delay.

[samhevener]

See I told you so.

The small market stations with the courage to hold to the original date have proven that the whole issue has absolutely nothing to do with the less than one percent of Americans who lack the intelect to ever be "ready" despite years of being given simple instuctions.

The "giveback" of these millions of dollars of frequencies in major cities will NEVER occur.

Never.

Now those who, for years, said the February date was "firm" and were wrong, and then said that the O&Os and their minions would "never ask again" and that the June date was "firm" will post that I, and everyone else who understands this issue, are off the mark, again.

And in July, and in December, and in July 2020, analog TV will still be up and running.

The original cutoff date of Feb 17th will happen on June 12, 2009. There will be no second delay for high power stations. Several LP stations will be on the air after that date per the original bill.

[SamC]

Umm, the original bill prohibited delay as well. And in May, when the next delay is pushed through, it will be the last time as well. And then the next one will be the last one.

Eventually the tactic will change. We will be told that the "poor" will never understand and that the whole thing was a bad idea. So "parallel" broadcasting will continue into some unknown date to the future. Then, we will be told that it is a waste to show the same thing on the digital channel as the analog channel and the stations will ask for permission to "save" bandwidth by "competing with cable" and using the digital sidechannels for scrambled programming.

Which was the plan all along.

[Lee L]

I would have been much mor eafraid of something like that happening SamC if not for the fact that 1/3 of stations went ahead and converted on 2-17. It sure seemed like some in the new administration were awfully surprised by that. If I were a huge conspiracy nut, I would say thet they really were planning on spiking the whole transition and they were twarted by teh fact that so many stations wanted to move now.

Whatever the reasons, the transition pretty much has to go on now since so many stations are in limbo.

[n3ntj]

I don't recall what channel I heard the discussion on, but it was one of the news channels (CNN or MSNBC possibly?) on Saturday. The discussion lasted about 2~3 minutes, and then they went to another topic. I heard it in the background (I was in a different room) and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. When I heard it, I believe I yelled "BS" but in the long regular form.

I also thought the initial law stated the date was 17 Feb 2009 and no delay was possible, but you can change anything with enough legislative votes, as we've seen with the delay to June. Making the delay once set a dangerous precedence..just like giving money out to banks, car companies, etc. I think the only way some people will 'get ready' is if their TV signal is turned off first, and then the people HAVE to act. Trying to get people to act first before something happens, is useless and you'll always have bozos complaining and whining that they are ready or they're being discriminated against.

[CCarncross]

Anyone remember the original date of 1999? 10 years later and still the same crap. If they arent ready now, they wont be ready in June, or ever for that matter.

[chainblu]

Nothing would surprise me at this point.

[roadrunner1782]

There will always be the select few that will wait till the last possible minute to do anything about it! Kind of like the day before Christmas and every store is packed to the ceiling with "last minute shoppers". Like you just found out Christmas was tommorrow idiot!!!!!

[samhevener]

Anyone remember the original date of 1999? 10 years later and still the same crap. If they arent ready now, they wont be ready in June, or ever for that matter.

Original shutdown date of 1999? HDTVs selling for $4000.00 each. You must have the year 1999 mixed up with the year 2009. Or maybe it's another, "gross miscalulation on my part" as Ollie North used to say to congress.:lol:

[bidger]

Anyone remember the original date of 1999?

Uh, no. But I do remember 2006 as a cut-off year, but I don't believe we were anywhere near ready by that year, but given the fact that it's hard to find a SDTV in stores any more, there was no compelling reason to delay the Feb. 17, 2009 date for the ~ 5% who hadn't prepared for the analog cut-off. A 95% majority and you can't get it done?! Effen ridiculous!

[tsmacro]

There will always be the select few that will wait till the last possible minute to do anything about it! Kind of like the day before Christmas and every store is packed to the ceiling with "last minute shoppers". Like you just found out Christmas was tommorrow idiot!!!!!


I worked in a phone office for a couple years and I was amazed at the number of people who wouldn't pay their bill each month until their service was shut off. And it was the same people every month, we'd do the disconnect for non-pay and sure enough the same regulars would come into the office to pay their bill and get their service restored. Mind you they got charged a reconnect fee each time too, so they were spending more money every month just because they couldn't or wouldn't pay the bill on time. And sure there's issues with people not having enough money to pay their bills but with these people obviously they had the money because they'd come in to pay the bill everytime on the same day it got turned off. So in my experience the only way to motivate some people to do something is turn off their service and they'll finally get off their couches and do something about it. So the best thing that could happen for those who are still "unready" for DTV is to turn off analog broadcasts.

[harsh]

I am starting to find it sickening that TV is that important, and if it is that important you should figure out how it works a tiny bit and take the warnings that have been going on for months, and even years in some cases, seriously."The bubble headed bleach blond comes on at five..."

[zman977]

If we waited for "everyone to be ready" each time something new came along we'd never have progress. There are always people who will be left behind when things change. It is a fact of life. I don't know where this. "we have to wait till everyone is ready" mentality came from but it needs to end now. It is a fact of life. some people are gong to be left behind. If five percent of the population is not ready. Too bad.

[scooper]

If we waited for "everyone to be ready" each time something new came along we'd never have progress. There are always people who will be left behind when things change. It is a fact of life. I don't know where this. "we have to wait till everyone is ready" mentality came from but it needs to end now. It is a fact of life. some people are gong to be left behind. If five percent of the population is not ready. Too bad.

Zman - you're preaching to the choir here about that - personally - I'm a bit disappointed that more stations didn't tell the FCC to stick it and shutoff anyway.

In anything else - a 95% readiness would be looked at as great success.

[n3ntj]

Zman - you're preaching to the choir here about that - personally - I'm a bit disappointed that more stations didn't tell the FCC to stick it and shutoff anyway.

In anything else - a 95% readiness would be looked at as great success.

I agree 100%.

[samhevener]

Uh, no. But I do remember 2006 as a cut-off year, but I don't believe we were anywhere near ready by that year, but given the fact that it's hard to find a SDTV in stores any more, there was no compelling reason to delay the Feb. 17, 2009 date for the ~ 5% who hadn't prepared for the analog cut-off. A 95% majority and you can't get it done?! Effen ridiculous!

The original cutoff wasn't a fixed date at all. The original cutoff date was the be done market by market. The cutoff would happen in each TV market area when 85% of the households had a digital TVs. This originally didn't include those who still have an analog TV and connected to cable of satellite. The broadcasters pressured the congress to include cable and satellite users to speed up the cutoff. When that wasn't fast enough for the broadcasters, they pressured the FCC and congress to come up with a fixed date. If the original plan had held up, we wouldn't be talking about the shutoff at this time and the government would not have the expense of those converter boxes to add to all our other current problems.