Congress passes digital TV deferral

Washington, February 5: The shift from analog to digital TV has been postponed by 4 months until June after Congress approved legislation for the same yesterday. The bill will be now forwarded to President Obama for his stamp on it.

Obama has already expressed his backing for the delay, citing concerns that around 20 million U.S. households were not prepared for the switch.

It is worth noting here that the legislation for the delay in the switch from Feb. 17 to June 12 was cleared by the U.S. House of Representatives in a 264-158 vote after the Senate approved it in January.

Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst at Consumers Union, remarked, “We believe it is irresponsible to ask mostly rural or elderly consumers to reach into their own pockets to deal with this transition when many folks, including the federal government, are making a profit.”

Airwave spectrum that would be freed as a result of the changeover has already been bought by AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc in an auction that produced $19 billion for the U.S. government.

Both the firms have consented to a brief one-time delay and their licences will be stretched under the legislation.

The majority of Republicans were against the postponement of the switch as they felt it would lead to more confusion after aggressive advertising of the February switch by both the government and the private industry.

Earlier this week, Michael Copps, acting commissioner of the FCC, had said that the agency was working on a “plan B” just in case the Congress approved the extension of the deadline.

Meanwhile, Comcast Corp and Time Warner, two huge cable companies, are eyeing an opportunity to add new subscribers to their repertoire.

As per a broadcast industry source, most people do not have to be concerned about losing channels. The source said, “For competitive reasons, I think most stations won’t go early.”