Jan 28, 2009 6:00 pm US/Eastern
3-On Your Side: DTV Delay Voted Down
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
More than 6 million Americans might not be able to watch TV in about 3 weeks. That's because they aren't prepared for when the broadcast signal turns from analog to digital. There had been talk about delaying the transition until June, but as of now, 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan says don't count on it.
At first Congress seemed poised to push back the February 17th deadline, but in the end the bill to delay the DTV transition didn't pass. Many Democrats and consumer groups were pushing for a four month delay because some six and a half million households may not be ready for the switch.
According to Joel Kelsey of Consumers Union, "There is a lot of confusion out there about who is affected, if consumers are affected what they need to do, what converted box they need to buy, where to buy it, how to hook it up."
Adding to that confusion is a government coupon program that was supposed to help people pay for converter boxes, it ran out of money.
"There are millions of people waiting to get their coupons - and they are waiting to get their converter boxes - there is a backlog and it is not their fault," says Rep Henry Waxman (D) of California.
Republican Congressmen like Joe Barton of Texas argue a delay would further confuse consumers. Barton says, "It is a solution looking for a problem."
But with Democrats in control, consumer groups are hopeful congress will reconsider a digital delay before those old TV sets without converter boxes go dark on February 17th. Meanwhile, if you haven't ordered your converter box coupons yet, you need to do so now.
The waiting list already has two and a half million names on it. You can call 1-888-DTV-2009 for more information or visit:
www.dtv2009.gov.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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