In a shocking move today, the United States House of Representatives denied the bill to pass that would extend the digital tv transition date to June 12. Around 6.5 million American households are still not prepared for the switch that will now take place on February 17th 2009. All of them will have no access to government funds that would have helped them get discounts on the required equipment to prepare them as the fund has run dry. It was almost certain that the bill would pass and even this writer thought the date would be changed. This bill was special though as it needed 2/3 of the vote to pass. The vote was 258 to 168 in support of changing the transition date.
Personally, I am happy to hear that the transition is back on track where it should be, as I’ve seen countless ads supporting the move and to say “If you don’t have it, your screen is going to go black on February 17th 2009″ and not follow through on it, that would just put another lie in the books for the government. Soon the airwaves will be free for better things to come including more cell phone coverage and would open up competition.
What’s your take on the situation? Do you feel that the U.S. government made the right choice by sticking to the date? Share your opinion on this controversial issue.
Update: I’m sad to announce that the U.S. government somehow got the date pushed back to June 12, 2009. This is a setback and it has further caused the U.S. government to spend more money on advertising when it could have just bought those 7 million people a converter.
Hmm, very cognitive post.
Is this theme good unough for the Digg?
Thank god. They need to get their s**t straight haha