That Concludes the (Analog) Broadcast Day

The House has voted down a proposal to delay the date upon which all television stations must switch from analog to digital broadcasts. The switch, mandated by Congress in 2005 to occur on February 17, 2009, is intended to free up bandwidth for other commercial and emergency service uses.

Older TVs that pull in signal off the air must be fitted with a converter box in order to avoid being turned into complicated paperweights (cable and satellite customers, or those who use antennas with relatively new TV sets, will not be affected). There is a tempest in a teapot in Washington about poor, rural Americans who will suffer without a delay in the switchover deadline because they have been confused by this whole thing. That seems to be an unneccessary fight. Anyone who has watched a broadcast television station for more than a few minutes over the last year has seen public service advertisements notifying the watching public of the upcoming changeover and the government vouchers that are available to defray $40 of the cost of the converter box. The voucher system has run up again a spending cap that has been impacted by the vaporizing economy, but the converter boxes can be purchased without the voucher for as little as $40.

We have a television that will go dark on February 17th. Like most people, I suspect, I have been to busy with other things to apply for the voucher and pick up a converter box (translation: too lazy). We get snowy reception on that TV under the best of circumstances anyway, so it will not be too great a loss. We plan to run the satellite feed to that room eventually, which will cure the problem. Until then, we might just have to go without the Today Show with our morning Cheerios.