Terry Mitchell

Why the Digital Transition Should Not Be Postponed



Posted: Wednesday, January 21, 2009

by
http://commenterry.blogs.com

President Barack Obama has requested that Congress postpone the mandatory analog-to-digital TV transition from February 17, 2009 to a later date. He has made this request because the government has run out of the $40 discount coupons it was sending out to those who had requested them. Apparently, no more will be available until after the scheduled transition date.

These coupons are to be applied to purchases of digital converters, which are necessary for analog TVs to receive over-the-air digital TV signals. Without them, sets not hooked up to a cable, satellite, or telco TV service will go dark after the transition takes place. These converters retail for anywhere from $40 to $70. Without the coupons, some people cannot afford them.

However, I completely disagree with Obama's request to postpone the transition date. I think it would be a major mistake to postpone it after running thousands of public service announcements -- ad nauseum -- stating that the deadline was February 17, 2009. For one thing, it would cause mass confusion at this (late) point in the game. The die has been cast. The farm has been bought. The government has already crossed the Rubicon on this one. The time to reverse course has long since passed.

Besides, television, no matter how much one might be addicted to it, is not a necessity of life. Emergency broadcasts can be received via radio. People did just fine before the invention of TV – and most of them weren't as fat. Without the boob tube, people might actually have to do something else with their time, like – gulp! – read a book. Oh the humanity!

But most importantly, the government's credibility is on the line here. If it reneges on this deadline, no one is ever going to trust another deadline the government sets, even if it is for something that might be a matter life or death. In response to future deadlines, people will say, "Yeah, I remember that supposed digital TV deadline back in 2009, but they didn't hold us to it. No need to worry about this one. We'll have all the time we need."

Unfortunately, failure to heed future deadlines might cost some people their lives. And it would be the government's fault. President Obama and Congress would be like the boy who cried wolf.
  

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Virginia, USA. He posts a least one article a day to his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - on subjects such as current events, politics, technology, society and culture, religion, health and well-being, self improvement, personal finance, trivia, and sports. Terry is also the owner and operator of a website that is dedicated to allowing U.S. citizens to find all types of insurance at reasonable prices.  
 
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