Anyone who watches TV with any regularity is well aware of the commercials that have been warning US citizens that according to Congressional mandate, all(*)TV broadcasting will switch over to digital(*)on February 17.(*) Each ad has made it clear that(*)those who have(*)analog sets can receive a voucher(*)to pay for a converter box. (*)Apparently, the government wasn’t paying attention to their own ads.(*) They have been caught with their pants down and have run out of money for the vouchers:

The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s TV Converter Box Coupon Program, with a US$1.3 billion budget from Congress, has been depleted, the NTIA announced. Starting last Sunday, U.S. residents applying for a digital TV converter box voucher were put on a waiting list, the agency said.(*) As of Monday, residents of about 24 million U.S. households have applied for 46 million converter box coupons, the NTIA said. Households can ask for two $40 coupons, and the coupons expire 90 days after they are mailed out.

This stinks in more ways than one.(*) First, the whole program seems like a(*)giveaway to the telecoms, who will end up receiving all of this government money.(*) Second, and more importantly, it is a social justice issue that ostracizes some of the most vulnerable members of our society.(*)

Those who still receive their television through analog antennas are by and the large the poor, the elderly, and those who live in rural areas.(*) Television is an important source of news, weather, and emergency information - as well as our chief(*)provider of social and cultural contact to the larger society.(*) After all, how many of us(*)witnessed Obama’s historic victory by watching the Grant Park celebration on TV?(*) What if we had been denied that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of a mistake such as the one that has been made with this voucher program?(*) To cut a sizable portion of the population off like this would be yet another indication that the government no longer works for the people.

There is only one solution to this dilemma: postpone the transition.(*) Congress is in session now, and should act swiftly to move(*)back the February 17 deadline and to provide enough funding for the program to get converter boxes to everyone who needs it.(*)(*)It shouldn’t be that difficult to do, and it will make a lot of constituents happy.




(Source Link)

I don't see a reason to postpone the transfer. The transfer is used to clear up analog bandwidth for emergency services. It was a good decision, and one that will be needed.

__________________
I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

Occam's principle of unimaginative thinking.
---