In 1996 Congress mandated a switch from analog TV broadcasting to digital. This switch was set to take place at midnight Dec. 31, 2006. So, of course, in 2005 Congress decided that too many (approx. 70 million) people would suddenly be without Tom Brokaw (Happy Birthday!). So they extended the switch date to Feb. 17, 2009. Of course, now the President is poised to sign a bill extending the switch to June 12, 2009. Approximately some 6 million people haven't gotten their taxpayer funded digital converter coupons, or boxes, or whatever.
Anyway, now many TV stations are upset and seeking waivers to allow them to make the switch on second original schedule date of Feb. 17. Apparently they are upset that they've wasted money promoting and preparing for this switch only to have it extended once again. Also, some stations had not budgeted for keeping the analog equipment running all the way to June. (They must have NOT noticed that the federal government was involved.)
The problem is that TV stations are businesses that actually have market accountability. Therefore these kinds of things matter. Government, of course, could not care less. Their response: "What? Don't you have 300 million people voluntarily (aka I don't want to go to jail, and I'm not an Obama appointee) sending you a portion of their hard earned funds just to see you light a match to it?"
Of course some stations are happy for the extension. Oddly, according to an NPR report, the majority of stations not seeking waivers are affiliated with PBS. Shocker!
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