You can’t hold back progress (unless you are Amish) and you cannot stop change. But if you harass your senate long enough you just might be able to delay it.
With old technology for TV going the way of the dinosaur, analog signals picked up on antennae are about to become a thing of the past. But they get a small reprieve while your grandma has to find it in her budget to get a TV with a coaxial input so her little black and white clunky dial 19 inch television still has some life in it.
After protracted behind-the-scenes negotiations throughout the halls of Congress, often involving angry debate, the American public will get its digital TV reprieve. After the Obama administration pushed, the House vote today means the cut-off date for analog has been moved from February 17th to June 12th. Consumers with expired coupons can reapply, and those who never got their coupons have more time.
When I heard about this, I was surprised that there is even a fuss about it. It doesn’t affect my household at all, but then I don’t have any 20 year old televisions.
In a nutshell, this just means that in order to get a TV signal you have to have a TV that can accept a digital connection. The government is even “bailing out” the technologically challenged by offering a coupon for you to get an adapter so those old antennae only TV’s can accept a line. (Cuz buying one at Walmart for $8 is robbery I tell ya!)
But this delaying of the inevitable is going to cost everyone BUT the government extra money. TV Stations that were broadcasting over the airwaves will now be required to continue the service for a few more months. All the ads telling you to get on board will have to be adjusted.
I don’t know what giving them an extra 4 months of denial is going to do.
