Delay for the All-Digital TV Switchover

Further Update: In Second Vote, House Delays Digital TV Transition -- This is ridiculous!

Digital TV Switchover Delay Gathers Steam in Congress


I started looking for an article to use for class several days ago (and, by the way, did not even notice until now that the DTV situation was the subject of one of the suggested articles!), so the one above is now outdated. The situation has changed, as the House has voted down the bill to delay the rollout:

House Kills Bill to Delay Switch to Digital TV


This is still an issue I want to comment on. I used to work as an IT support person, and I still act somewhat in a support role at my job as a library assistant. The DTV rollout is not so different from any technological change that has to be implemented. From my understanding of the measures taken by the Federal Government to facilitate the rollout, such as an informational campaign and coupons to rebate consumers of the digital converter boxes, there was a lot of thought put into helping U.S. citizens upgrade to digital TV. The television networks and local stations also are taking part in informing the public about the change. It has been in their best interest to make sure that the most people possible had upgraded by the deadline so that those without a digital television or cable could still watch their programming.

So Obama is worried that around 6 million homes will wake up to snow on their TV screens, which is the basis of his support of a delay. This is, I believe, representative of a misguided ideal about the role of Federal Government. And it makes sense, as he is a member of the Democratic Party. (And I am too, but I lean very Libertarian). Let's take care of those people who are ignorant of the coming snow on their TVs!

There are obvious support issues that will come to pass with the rollout. People who have thus far remained ignorant of the situation will have to get the information that 60 million or so other households have already gotten and acted upon. Those 6 million homes might be full of panicked people without benefit of their main information source. It might take those people an entire week to figure out what's going on and get their television service back. What if in that week there was a disaster in which the citizenry needed to know about what was going on, and the consequence for their week without TV was greater than not being able to watch "Lost"?

I thought that's why everyone had a radio available somewhere in their house or car, in case of an emergency.

The only way to get those 6 million households on board is to just pull the plug. Over time the number of snowy TVs will dwindle. People need to be allowed to figure out how they will be a part of the current information age. Although I agree that more rural and poor areas need to have infrastructure developed for internet access, and even possibly have this infrastructure funded partly by the government, it seems over-the-top to worry about a lack of television that can be fixed quickly and cheaply.