DTV is coming…

The Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 mandated that all current analog NTSC formats switch over to digital ATSC format beginning February 17, 2009. The switch frees up channels 52-69, lower 700 MHz band, for other uses. The FCC reallocated those channels for public safety communications and others auctioned off. Some of the channels will be used for more advanced wireless services and cell phone services.

 

If you’re like most people and have cable or satellite TV, you have nothing to worry about. However, if you currently watch “free TV” and use an antenna, you’ll need a digital-to-analog converter box. The Act set aside $1.34 billion to issue out $40 government coupons for users to sign up for. If you need a converter, and haven’t signed up for one yet, you might be out of luck. In January, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ran out of the $1.34 billion set aside for coupons and has started putting people on the waiting list.

 

Because there an estimated 6.5 million people still left without a convert box, President Barack Obama encouraged the addition of $650 million into DTV transition into the Economic Stimulus Act of 2009. Even if the additional money goes through, the coupons won’t be delivered out in time for the February 17^th switch. The US Senate unanimously voted in favor of the DTV Delay Act to push the DTV switch date back to June 12, 2009. The US House defeated a similar measure yesterday (January 28, 2009).

 

Expect the House and Senate to come to terms on some type of bill in the comings days to delay the switch. Although it’s hard to make excuses for those who have waited over a year to sign up for the government coupon, many TV stations simply are not ready for the switch. My parents have satellite TV, but still use the analog stations to pick up the local ABC, CBS, and NBC stations. I connected up their box a little over a month ago to find that KELO had pretty reception and that KDLT was pretty good most of the time. However, SDPB and KSFY had little to no signal and still don’t. For the sake of my mother, and Desperate Housewives fans everywhere, I believe you’ll see the delay so stations have more time to make sure they can maintain an adequate digital signal.