(no subject)
so this isn't on my aforementioned list of things to blog about, but this keeps popping up in the news, and i'm finding it to be getting a little ridiculous.
the senate tonight (for the second time), at the urging of president obama, passed a bill that would delay the transition to digital television until june, giving consumers four more months to get with the program and get a converter box.
i think this is the one thing that i have disagreed with mr obama on since he got into office.
for those of you who have no idea what i'm talking about, the theory is that the entire program has been completely bungled by the FCC since its inception, and now that it's almost time for the switch, there's a whole mass of people who are still on a waiting list for those government-subsidized coupons. many believe that those who haven't signed up to get on the list, or just gone and bit the bullet and bought the damned thing are going to miss too many vital broadcasts if the transition isn't delayed in order to allow them more time to get things in order. the house shot this down earlier this week, but it's now again up for debate as the date (17 february) looms closer. you can learn more about the transition here.
in my opinion, we've been working on this transition for years and years. the FCC has had more than enough time to get their act together. no matter which network station you tune into (between ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX/etc), there's always plenty of public service ads going within each hour to remind viewers of the countdown. many stations are offering free helplines to call with questions, information on their websites - here in new hampshire, our ABC affiliate, WMUR, is even holding "town hall meetings" across the state where people can show up with their converter box for all the information they need.
if people haven't figured it out already that they need to scrape together somewhere between 20 and 50 bucks for a converter box (even the basic models aren't that expensive), then honestly, that's not the rest of our problem. trust me; living in the middle of nowhere, i know many residents that can't get cable or satellite. if you choose to live on the side of a mountain, and you *only* get over the air stations, and you've had it drilled into your head for months and months that you need this box, why should everyone else have to hold back because of you? could the FCC have better handled the coupon dole-out, and made more available? yes, absolutely. but your lack of planning is not our emergency. plus, the longer we drag this out ... the longer people will wait ... it's a neverending cycle.
what many don't understand is the stations who are preparing for this transition stand to lose millions of dollars should it be delayed even for a few months. working in broadcasting, i can tell you that business is tanking for many. the recession has hit broadcasters hard; so many are eagerly looking forward to the day where they can finally axe their analog equipment and transmitters. this would allow them to keep their stations within new budget limitations that corporate keeps slashing ... but if the delay passes, then stations suddenly have to find monies to allocate to keep the old equipment running. these monies, as you can imagine, lately are few and far between. (yay, recession!) looking toward the extreme, this could put many stations straight out of business and off the air.
so ... would i rather risk losing several stations forever and having thousands of fellow broadcasters out of a job (as if we haven't had enough layoffs lately in the industry), or having a few thousand people rush to the store on 17 february for their converter box? i'll take the latter, please.
the senate tonight (for the second time), at the urging of president obama, passed a bill that would delay the transition to digital television until june, giving consumers four more months to get with the program and get a converter box.
i think this is the one thing that i have disagreed with mr obama on since he got into office.
for those of you who have no idea what i'm talking about, the theory is that the entire program has been completely bungled by the FCC since its inception, and now that it's almost time for the switch, there's a whole mass of people who are still on a waiting list for those government-subsidized coupons. many believe that those who haven't signed up to get on the list, or just gone and bit the bullet and bought the damned thing are going to miss too many vital broadcasts if the transition isn't delayed in order to allow them more time to get things in order. the house shot this down earlier this week, but it's now again up for debate as the date (17 february) looms closer. you can learn more about the transition here.
in my opinion, we've been working on this transition for years and years. the FCC has had more than enough time to get their act together. no matter which network station you tune into (between ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX/etc), there's always plenty of public service ads going within each hour to remind viewers of the countdown. many stations are offering free helplines to call with questions, information on their websites - here in new hampshire, our ABC affiliate, WMUR, is even holding "town hall meetings" across the state where people can show up with their converter box for all the information they need.
if people haven't figured it out already that they need to scrape together somewhere between 20 and 50 bucks for a converter box (even the basic models aren't that expensive), then honestly, that's not the rest of our problem. trust me; living in the middle of nowhere, i know many residents that can't get cable or satellite. if you choose to live on the side of a mountain, and you *only* get over the air stations, and you've had it drilled into your head for months and months that you need this box, why should everyone else have to hold back because of you? could the FCC have better handled the coupon dole-out, and made more available? yes, absolutely. but your lack of planning is not our emergency. plus, the longer we drag this out ... the longer people will wait ... it's a neverending cycle.
what many don't understand is the stations who are preparing for this transition stand to lose millions of dollars should it be delayed even for a few months. working in broadcasting, i can tell you that business is tanking for many. the recession has hit broadcasters hard; so many are eagerly looking forward to the day where they can finally axe their analog equipment and transmitters. this would allow them to keep their stations within new budget limitations that corporate keeps slashing ... but if the delay passes, then stations suddenly have to find monies to allocate to keep the old equipment running. these monies, as you can imagine, lately are few and far between. (yay, recession!) looking toward the extreme, this could put many stations straight out of business and off the air.
so ... would i rather risk losing several stations forever and having thousands of fellow broadcasters out of a job (as if we haven't had enough layoffs lately in the industry), or having a few thousand people rush to the store on 17 february for their converter box? i'll take the latter, please.