Digital TV get a 4 month delay

(image found on Wired)
With the mad dash for Digital converter boxes the government has run out of coupons for the upgrade leaving around 2.5 million American viewers on a long waiting list. So the senate has gone and given the official date of February 17th a hold until June 12th for the big conversion. If people don't have the digital converter box and antenna by that time they can still be safe if they are using Satellite or cable to watch their programs.

President Obama made a request for the hold and the great thing is someone listened. People were first warned about the conversion to digital back in 2005.

"Senate Commerce Chairman John Rockefeller said delaying the TV switch is the right thing to do because the United States is not yet ready to make the transition.

"The Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged process," the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement.

Many lawmakers worry that an estimated 20 million mostly poor, elderly and rural households are not ready for the switch, which requires owners of older television sets receiving over-the-air signals to buy a converter box or subscribe to cable or satellite TV.

Broadcasters are moving from analog to digital signals to give public safety officials more spectrum, especially useful for emergencies, and to improve viewing quality."

I have had the digital converter boxes for a few months now and the only strange thing i have encountered is that here in Chicago I can not get Channel 2 at all and also Channel 7 goes in and out all the time. The other channels appear to be working fine and I've noticed that many of them have several sub-version channels offered too.

Senate OKs digital TV Delay (bizjournals)

Digital TV Switchover Delay Gathers Steam in Congress (Wired)

Senate passes bill to delay digital TV switch (Reuters)