Digital transition delayed!!!

[jal41]

While it still awaits the formality of President Obama's signature, the DTV transition is delayed until June 12th. The House just passed the bill seconds ago.

 

[DToTheJ]

And now, here's a link to go with the story:
http://www.examiner.com/a-1833189~Congress_postpones_digital_TV_transition_to_June.html

 

[robmadden1]

House passes the DTV Delay Act. Waiting for President Signature

The House of Representatives has passes Senate Bill S. 352, the DTV Delay Act. The Bill now goes to President Obama for signature or veto. (It is expected he will sign given his signals.)

This bill will allow stations to delay their transition to digital-only until June 12, though does not require a delay until that time.

FCC discussions indicate 143 stations have already transitioned, and approximately 60% plan to switch on February 17 if permitted.

Thank you all for keeping these discussions limited to the actions of government without political commentary. While discussions of this nature are difficult to separate from "politics" you've done a great job this last couple days. Thanks!

Printer ready form of the text:

S 352 ES

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 352

AN ACT

To postpone the DTV transition date.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `DTV Delay Act'.

SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF DTV TRANSITION DATE.

(a) In General- Section 3002(b) of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended--

(1) by striking `February 18, 2009;' in paragraph (1) and inserting `June 13, 2009;'; and

(2) by striking `February 18, 2009,' in paragraph (2) and inserting `that date'.

(b) Conforming Amendments-

(1) Section 3008(a)(1) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by striking `February 17, 2009.' and inserting `June 12, 2009.'.

(2) Section 309(j)(14)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(14)(A)) is amended by striking `February 17, 2009.' and inserting `June 12, 2009.'.

(3) Section 337(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 337(e)(1)) is amended by striking `February 17, 2009.' and inserting `June 12, 2009.'.

(c) License Terms-

(1) EXTENSION- The Federal Communications Commission shall extend the terms of the licenses for the recovered spectrum, including the license period and construction requirements associated with those licenses, for a 116-day period.

(2) DEFINITION- In this subsection, the term `recovered spectrum' means--

(A) the recovered analog spectrum, as such term is defined in section 309(j)(15)(C)(vi) of the Communications Act of 1934; and

(B) the spectrum excluded from the definition of recovered analog spectrum by subclauses (I) and (II) of such section.

SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER BOX PROGRAM.

(a) Extension of Coupon Program- Section 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by striking `March 31, 2009,' and inserting `July 31, 2009,'.

(b) Treatment of Expired Coupons- Section 3005(c)(1) of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(D) EXPIRED COUPONS- The Assistant Secretary may issue to a household, upon request by the household, one replacement coupon for each coupon that was issued to such household and that expired without being redeemed.'.

(c) Conforming Amendment- Section 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by striking `receives, via the United States Postal Service,' and inserting `redeems'.

(d) Condition of Modifications- The amendments made by this section shall not take effect until the enactment of additional budget authority after the date of enactment of this Act to carry out the analog-to-digital converter box program under section 3005 of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005.

SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION.

(a) Permissive Early Termination Under Existing Requirements- Nothing in this Act is intended to prevent a licensee of a television broadcast station from terminating the broadcasting of such station's analog television signal (and continuing to broadcast exclusively in the digital television service) prior to the date established by law under section 3002(b) of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 for termination of all licenses for full-power television stations in the analog television service (as amended by section 2 of this Act) so long as such prior termination is conducted in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission's requirements in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, including the flexible procedures established in the Matter of Third Periodic Review of the Commission's Rules and Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Television (FCC 07-228, MB Docket No. 07-91, released December 31, 2007).

(b) Public Safety Radio Services- Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall prevent a public safety service licensee from commencing operations consistent with the terms of its license on spectrum recovered as a result of the voluntary cessation of broadcasting in the analog or digital television service pursuant to subsection (a). Any such public safety use shall be subject to the relevant Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, including section 90.545 of the Commission's rules (47 C.F.R. 90.545).

(c) Expedited Rulemaking- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration shall, not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each adopt or revise its rules, regulations, or orders or take such other actions as may be necessary or appropriate to implement the provisions, and carry out the purposes, of this Act and the amendments made by this Act.

SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION AUCTION AUTHORITY.

Section 309(j)(11) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is amended by striking `2011.' and inserting `2012.'.

Passed the Senate January 29, 2009.

Attest:

Secretary.

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 352

AN ACT

To postpone the DTV transition date.

END

 

[zman]

What the story did not mention is that the new date is voluntary. Stations can still and I'm sure many if not mot ill still switch off their anologue signals on Feb 17th. Two weeks before the deadline was a real dumb time to change the deadline. I'm guessing it is way too late for most stations to change their plans to sign off their anologue sinals. Now though if there are complaints from peopel losing their signals cogress can say, "wellwe chaned the deadline but the stations switched anyway, now our fault." This takes t blame off the goverment for people losing their signals and puts it on the stations themselves. I think this voluntary date changge will just confuse people even more as some will be expecting to have their anologe signals until June and don't have them on February 18th.

 

[Jul]

house vote breakdown on the passage of S 352: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll052.xml

 

[whit979]

I think we'll see a lot of stations choosing to go ahead and shut down on the 17th. The people I've talked to in Birmingham say the cost of maintaining separate analog and digital transmitters is just too much to continue with. Already, Alabama Public TV has announced that they will still make the switch on the 17th.

 

[TheRob]

We're shutting off analog on Feb. 17, and I think every other station in the market will do the same. It's a worthless piece of legislation.

 

[Robnoxious]

It's a worthless piece of legislation.

I'm so glad Congress is tackling the hard pressing issues our country faces today. :

Idiots. The whole lot of 'em.

 

[JayR]

We're shutting off analog on Feb. 17, and I think every other station in the market will do the same. It's a worthless piece of legislation.

I couldn't agree more.

In my area, Fort Myers Broadcasting will shut down analog for WINK-TV on February 17th at noon.

 

[dhett]

It's a worthless piece of legislation.

I'm so glad Congress is tackling the hard pressing issues our country faces today. :

That's exactly what they tackled today. The three most important letters, be it in government or business, are C, Y, and A.

So we get a piece of useless, feel-good legislation that many broadcasters have already made irrelevant. Look for a rash of filings within this coming week to go digital on 2/17. Stations have already scheduled crews to do whatever work needs to be done, and those not able to make the deadline have already been given necessary STAs. (See KAJB.) Ready or not, America, analog sunset occurs on February 17th, not June 12th, regardless of what Congressional know-nothings say!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

If the bill had failed, I wonder how long it would have taken
one of those great minds : in Congress to come out with
a statement like:

"The TV stations could make the analog sunset occur later
if we just started daylight-saving time on February 17." ;D

 

[markwooldridge]

I guess stations can and will make an individual decision whether to switch or not.

There was the earlier SAFER act that allowed a small group of stations in most (but not) markets to continue to broadcast an emergency analog service for another month or so.

Personally it'd be nice to see WFMY continue for a little while longer on channel 2 on analog until June, purely because it was one of NC's first TV stations and I guess it can be the last on analog here in NC too...

What I'm not clear on is what would happen to certain stations where station X is on station Y's final frequency allocation. If Y wants to switch but X doesn't... what happens? Also what happens if Y's temporary frequency is on Channel 52 or greater, does the CH 52-68 band still have to be vacated come Feb 18th? If Ch 52+ has to be vacated on Feb 17th... that would cause a problem with some broadcasters if the other stations don't want to relinquish the other allocation until later on because they want to continue in analog. Either that or we get the weird situation of stations going analog only until later and then straight-cut to digital.

 

[oldschooltv]

What a joke! If these people cared so much about OTA viewers, why not look into the fact that tons of us are going to lose channels after the switch to digital. What good is this service if the signal coverage is inferior and people can no longer tune in?

 

[RadioDze]

There is a situation like this with WRAL in Raleigh. Currently airing their DTV signal on out-of-core UHF channel 53, they will move to channel 48, which is now occupied by analog WMYV in Greensboro, which has some coverage in the Raleigh-Durham market. Another situation involves Greenville's WNCT (analog channel 9) which currently broadcasts its DTV signal on channel 10, and will remain on channel 10 post-transition. Manteo's WSKY-TV, in the neighboring Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News market, is already broadcasting DTV on channel 4 (a 2001 sign-on, they didn't have a separate DTV assignment and had to flash-cut), but will move to channel 9, which is occupied by analog WNCT. Also, Portsmouth's WAVY broadcasts on analog channel 10, which likely compromises the WNCT digital signal in northern reaches of the market. If the different owners aren't on the same page about when to switch (Feb 17 or a later date), there will be lots of issues, as many stations' transitions are dependent upon others also moving.

WFMY's analog channel 2 would be great for a DTV "nightlight", as there are relatively few DTV stations operating in the low VHF band due to propagation issues. I remember reading the plan for nightlights was to actually use these V-Low channels where possible for this reason.

I guess stations can and will make an individual decision whether to switch or not.

There was the earlier SAFER act that allowed a small group of stations in most (but not) markets to continue to broadcast an emergency analog service for another month or so.

Personally it'd be nice to see WFMY continue for a little while longer on channel 2 on analog until June, purely because it was one of NC's first TV stations and I guess it can be the last on analog here in NC too...

What I'm not clear on is what would happen to certain stations where station X is on station Y's final frequency allocation. If Y wants to switch but X doesn't... what happens? Also what happens if Y's temporary frequency is on Channel 52 or greater, does the CH 52-68 band still have to be vacated come Feb 18th? If Ch 52+ has to be vacated on Feb 17th... that would cause a problem with some broadcasters if the other stations don't want to relinquish the other allocation until later on because they want to continue in analog. Either that or we get the weird situation of stations going analog only until later and then straight-cut to digital.

 

[Markxxx]

What a joke! If these people cared so much about OTA viewers, why not look into the fact that tons of us are going to lose channels after the switch to digital. What good is this service if the signal coverage is inferior and people can no longer tune in?

As one poster pointed out this is politics, it shifts the burden, now the polticians can say "It isn't OUR fault."

Whether or not poor people have TV is doesn't matter to them as long as they can shift blame.

You will note no one actually REQUIRED stations to stay in analog until Feb 17th. They could've filed to switch earlier.

 

[4dude]

What good is this service if the signal coverage is inferior and people can no longer tune in?

Hopefully these idiots will soon realize thier audience has been 70% reduced....

 

[Jack Ruby]

What a joke! If these people cared so much about OTA viewers, why not look into the fact that tons of us are going to lose channels after the switch to digital. What good is this service if the signal coverage is inferior and people can no longer tune in?

My thoughts exactly....A sound system is being destroyed and replaced with one that has inferior coverage and we blindly accept that as an improvement. Well...I guess that if the multibillion dollar cell phone industry can profit from this and they will, thats the important thing...right????

 

[gr8oldies]

As we speak WHIO in Dayton is announcing they will switch on 2/17 as scheduled

 

[markwooldridge]

What a joke! If these people cared so much about OTA viewers, why not look into the fact that tons of us are going to lose channels after the switch to digital. What good is this service if the signal coverage is inferior and people can no longer tune in?

I'm going to dare say this. A lot of people who watch terrestrial broadcast TV seem to "make do" with indoor antennas. They put up with snowy pictures, pictures with interference, ghosting, etc. Broadcasters are loathe to share facilities, so all networks in a given market are often broadcasting from different locations, requiring antenna adjustments when changing channels.

I never got all broadcast networks totally with a clear picture comparable to cable or satellite with an indoor antenna set up in one position. Adjustments were required or I just put up with a less than perfect picture.

In short: too many people have inadequate antennas and the broadcasters don't help the situation either.

The digital switchover exacerbates the situation because with digital it's a case of you get it or you don't - that wonderful "digital cliff" effect. Analog - you can watch a bad picture and listen to sound. If your digital signal is too weak, too bad too sad, no signal. If you're right on the cliff, then some days you get the picture great, sometimes you have breakup, sometimes you get the wonderful "No Signal" message. With too many viewers getting pictures "on the cliff-edge" because of inferior antennas, they get frustrated and give up.

I could write a lengthy spiel and say "compare to UK" but I'll spare you that one.

Mark.

 

[Poledo]

WEAR Pensacola is still advertising a Feb 17 shutdown as of Feb 5th. I would assume WSRE (analog 23/digital 31) will also shut down on Feb 17 since there is a newly allocated station waiting to light up on digital 23. The new station is already on an STA because their CP expired over a month ago. Also, WSRE is a PBS station and was also the first station to light up a digital transmitter in our area (I think they started at full power too), so they've been burning money for years.

My mom read this story in the paper this morning and believes this is the reason her cable was out. ;D