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Highlands Today

Does Public Really Need More Time For Digital TV Change?

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2009

Forget for a moment that our country's economy is sinking. Forget that we have two wars going on. Forget that people are out of work, losing their homes and struggling to get by. Our Congress cranked out legislation Wednesday to postpone changing the nation's TV signals to digital until June 12. Thank goodness they came to our rescue!

If there's a hint of sarcasm in that last line, it was intended. After three years of warnings, commercials, TV news stories, magazine and newspaper articles and every other way to get the word out, about 6 million Americans still aren't ready for this changeover. Whose fault is that?

The government needs to stick with its plan and move forward. Forget about a four-month delay. It's our prediction that almost the same number of people still won't be prepared even a year from now for a changeover.

The analog to digital change has been planned for years because digital signals are much more efficient than analog signals. Newer TVs are built for digital signals and for anyone with an older TV, there are converter boxes that will make them work just fine. Anyone with cable or satellite TV has nothing to worry about. Coupons are available to make buying a converter box affordable, but yet millions of those coupons are not being used.

It seems silly that Congress believes this was such a big issue that they took the time to extend the transition period. At some point they need to say, "We have dealt with this and let's move on." We prefer that they work harder on the stimulus bill to cut baloney out of it and improve the job-creating parts that get people back to work.

One thing's for sure, when the plug is finally pulled on analog signals, it won't take long for everyone to get prepared. Until that happens, procrastination will continue.

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