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Nationwide Digital TV Conversion Pushed Back to June

January 28, 2009

Senate Approves Delay

By Matthew B. Zeidman

WASHINGTON (RushPRnews/Hollywood Today) 1/28/09 – If Congress has its way, TV viewers may have four more months of ubiquitous public service announcements to look forward to. The U.S. Senate passed a bill Monday, which would move the deadline for broadcast networks to switch to all-digital broadcasting from Feb. 17 to June 12.

Only low-power broadcasters will be permitted to ignore the nationwide digital deadline, which will likely move to June 12

The piece of legislation still must be approved by the House of Representatives and signed by President Barack Obama, who has been a vocal supporter of a deadline extension.



For several months, federal, state and local governments have spearheaded community outreach programs, including TV and radio ads, encouraging users of older TVs to buy inexpensive converter boxes. However, the floundering economy and a staggering backlog of requests for government-issued coupons have led to public pressure in favor of a deadline extension.

The switch was mandated so that analog wavelengths could be sold off by the government and used to improve commercial wireless networks and communications by emergency responders. Cable and satellite subscribers will not be affected by the changeover, but those receiving over-the-air programming on older sets will lose most broadcast signals, unless they buy converter boxes.

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