Democrats Seek Delay in TV Shift: Bush adm. screwed up again

January 9, 2009
Democrats Seek Delay in TV Shift
By BRIAN STELTER
New York Times

The nation’s broadcasters may not complete their long-awaited switch to all-digital TV next month, after all.

On Thursday President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team urged Congress to extend the Feb. 17 cutoff date for analog broadcasting, injecting new uncertainty into a switch that has confused customers and cost the government more than $1.3 billion in subsidies.

Several television networks and high-ranking Democrats supported Mr. Obama’s proposal, although it remains unclear whether a change will be made.

Ending analog signals will affect millions of television viewers who own old televisions. Those sets will not be able to receive over-the-air television signals once the mandated upgrade to digital transmission takes place, unless their owners buy converter boxes, which the government is subsidizing.

In the most significant sign to date of concern about the impending transition, John D. Podesta, the chairman of the Obama transition team, said the Congressional financing to support the change was “woefully inadequate.”

Echoing concerns from consumers groups, Mr. Podesta said in a letter to Congressional leaders that the Obama staff had found major difficulties in the transition, which was authorized by Congress in 2005.

He said a federal coupon program for discounts on the cost of converter boxes has, at least temporarily, run out of funds, forcing more than one million coupon requests to be put on a waiting list. To date, 18.8 million coupons have been redeemed; some have expired without being used, and as more expire, new ones will be made available.

Mr. Podesta said that the number of requests " possibly hundreds of thousands each day " could overwhelm the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is running the program. The coupons are worth $40, and the most basic converters cost about $50.

Mr. Podesta also described as insufficient the government’s plans to handle the expected rush of inquiries as Feb. 17 draws near and indicated that Mr. Obama’s proposed stimulus package would include funds to address the problems.

Several high-ranking Congressional members said the recommendation should be considered swiftly. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia and chairman of the committee on commerce, science and transportation, said he would support delaying the analog cutoff “until we can do it right.”

But some prominent Republicans rejected the recommendation. In a statement, Representative Joe L. Barton of Texas said that “ditching the deadline” would amount to panic. “We don’t need to bail out the DTV transition program because it isn’t failing, and reintroducing uncertainty to the switch will make things worse instead of better," Mr. Barton, a ranking member of the House committee on energy and commerce, said.

Neither Mr. Podesta nor any of the lawmakers indicated the length of a potential delay.

The end of analog broadcasting will free up spectrum for use by wireless companies and public safety agencies. A big advertising campaign by the government and the broadcasting industry, complete with messages on the side of a Nascar race car, has asked consumers, “Are you ready?”

Still, Nielsen Media Research estimates that 7.8 million households, representing 6.8 percent of homes with television, were not ready as of December because they had not upgraded any of their television sets. Unless members of those households purchase new TV’s or converter boxes, they will lose service when the analog signals are shut off. Homes with cable or satellite service will not be affected, only those with old antennas.

The owners of major networks, including NBC Universal and the News Corporation, have indicated that they support a delay. After all, they could see a drop in audience if many TV sets suddenly go dark.

Local television stations in many markets have held digital TV tests, temporarily turning off their analog signal and informing viewers of the impending change. During one recent test in Knoxville, Tenn., Debra Krause Dandaneau, found that the television and antenna she had purchased did not work without a converter box. She requested a coupon for a converter box in October, but it had expired by the time it arrived in the mail.

She has waited four weeks for a new one.

“Now, I wonder ‘Will that coupon be delivered?’ ” she said, adding that she has a Ph.D. in physics and that “this has been difficult and frustrating.”