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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An effort to delay the February 17 deadline for a nationwide switch to digital television failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after Republicans blocked the move.
The legislation is backed by President Barack Obama and already passed the U.S. Senate. However, it failed to gain the required two-thirds support in the House under special rules adopted for the vote.
This change over to all digital was announced several years ago and needs to happen on schedule. You could delay it 5 years from now and there would still be a segment of people who wouldn't be ready and asking for a "slight" delay.
It's totally unfair to have the vast majority of people following the reasonable course of action which is getting equipped properly and then cater to the few who will never be ready. It's not like even if you have to pay for the while digital decoder box yourself is really going to put you over the top. If you started saving for the box when the change over was announced you'd probably have had to save a dollar a month.
When you drive through the poorer areas of the country there is one thing I've noticed....you sure see a lot of those small satellite dishes, so you know what the priorities are...they will find a way to get a box.
Who really gives a damn? This government is on the verge of printing $2 trillion in loan money, which mushroomed from the previously converted figure of 700 billion. No one in either political party is disclosing the terms. I thought that government "was for and of the people". I guess these days that only applies to really important matters, such as delaying conversion to digital TV is more important to the masses. This matters more, to most, evidently. And that's a real shame. We've dumbed down our populace enough to distract them from concentrating on these more important matters, and instead are more fixated on a digital television conversion, the cost of Sarah Palin's wardrobe, or flag pins being worn by a perspective candidate. People have hundreds of choices when it comes to these programmed television channels, the number of flavors or toppings they can get on an ice cream or pizza, but when it comes to politics, just two. And the evidence to this ambivalent attitude is transparent when you consider our society in general, relative to even 20 years ago. We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. And yet, I hear almost as much about this digital TV conversion bill as I do about anything relevant to tax negotiations, or budgetary woes. The fact that this bill even has visibility relative to the economic and educational problems is a god damned shame.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An effort to delay the February 17 deadline for a nationwide switch to digital television failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after Republicans blocked the move.
The legislation is backed by President Barack Obama and already passed the U.S. Senate. However, it failed to gain the required two-thirds support in the House under special rules adopted for the vote.
There seemed to be some conflict of interest maneuvering going on in Obama's transition team/administration with the DTV delay bill. The Republicans got this right!
Anyone who has not yet made the switch is obviously not interested in watching television.
That statement makes absolutely no sense.
The switch has not happened yet - it is scheduled to happen next month. And individuals cannot make the switch - it's television stations that must make the switch from analog to digital. Many individuals who need the converter boxes for older TVs have already purchased the converter boxes, but that isn't "making the switch."
As to whether the switch should happen as scheduled or be delayed, I personally don't care. I don't watch that much TV, and I've got cable.
I am so sick of the local news obsessing on this during every single newscast. And on Feb 18, all the local news will be dedicated to interviews with people saying "I didn't know this was happening, why didn't someone tell me?"
If I have to listen to this hysteria about the change until summer, the only thing my TV will be connected to is the Wii and the DVD player.
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