http://www.pcworld.com/article/15836...ransition.html
They said that "It would take an act of Congress" to postpone the
digital TV transition, said a board member of the DTV Transition
coalition earlier this month, this before Congress began considering
President Obama's request for a delay. And now, that's exactly how
this saga is playing out.

The U.S. Senate voted at 9:15 PM Monday evening to delay the
switchover from analog to digital television broadcasting, on a bill
sponsored by Senator John Rockefeller (D W-Va). The original date was
set for February 17, 2009, just 22 days from now; under the bill
passed in the Senate, that deadline would postponed until June 12,
2009. The House still needs to vote, but it is expected to pass
similar legislation extending the transition.

The reprieve for analog is a response to concerns that an estimated
6.5 million U.S. households continue to rely on antennas and will go
dark when the switchover to digital occurs. A year ago, the Consumer
Electronics Association estimated that 13.5 million households would
require a converter box.

At the heart of the transition's delay are Issues with the deployment
of funds from the U.S. Commerce Department's coupon program, which
offers households up to two $40 coupons to defray the cost of a
digital TV converter box. The coupon program launched over a year ago;
and 19 million coupons have been redeemed--a redemption rate of around
50 percent.

By the end of 2008, though, the funds allocated for the coupon program
had dried up: Consumers who tried to request a coupon were put on a
waiting list.

"There was a set amount of money-$1.3 billion-for coupons," explains
John Taylor, the aforementioned board member of the DTV Transition
coalition, and vice president of communications at LG Electronics. But
the coupons are good for a limited time only. "As the coupons expire,
the money goes back into the treasury." The money then has to be
reallocated to back new coupons--a process that has taken longer than
expected.

Before the Senate vote for a delay was announced, Taylor expected
another 10 million coupons to be redeemed before the February
transition deadline.

Taylor notes that having a hard date for the transition is important.
"It gives certainty" to the process he says, both for consumers and
for consumer electronics companies. According to the coalition's most
recent survey data, he notes, 97 percent of households know about DTV
today and know that the transition was scheduled to happen in
February.

If you do have a DTV converter box today, you'll have to take action
on the presumed new transition day: You'll have to rescan the channels
on your converter box. "When 600 stations move to a different
frequency that night [of the transition], that affects everyone with a
digital TV and an ATSC tuner," says Taylor.

-----------------------

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate passed a bill on Monday to delay the
nationwide switch to digital TV signals, giving consumers nearly four
more months to prepare. The transition date would move to June 12 from
February 17 under the bill that was fueled by worries that viewers are
not technically ready for the congressionally-mandated switch-over. It
also would allow consumers with expired coupons, available from the
government to offset the cost of a $40 converter box, to request new
coupons. The government ran out of coupons earlier this month, and
about 2.5 million Americans are on a waiting list for them.

Senate Commerce Chairman John Rockefeller said delaying the TV switch
is the right thing to do because the United States is not yet ready to
make the transition. "The Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama
administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged
process," the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement. Many
lawmakers worry that an estimated 20 million mostly poor, elderly and
rural households are not ready for the switch, which requires owners
of older television sets receiving over-the-air signals to buy a
converter box or subscribe to cable or satellite TV.

Broadcasters are moving from analog to digital signals to give public
safety officials more spectrum, especially useful for emergencies, and
to improve viewing quality. Momentum had been building for a delay
since President Barack Obama backed it earlier this month. The digital
TV bill also would extend the licenses of AT&T Inc and Verizon
Communications, which are waiting for the airwaves to be vacated when
all TVs convert. The companies, which paid $16 billion for the public
airwaves in an auction last year, would get 116 extra days on their
licenses under the proposed legislation. CTIA, the wireless trade
association, has said a delay could hurt confidence in the FCC's
spectrum auctions.