The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Congress has granted a four-month reprieve to the millions of consumers who risk losing access to television signals during the nation’s switch from over-the-air analog television to digital.
Although broadcasters said they were ready for the Feb. 17 transition, requiring them to keep broadcasting in analog until June 12 gives more time for consumers to prepare.
It also lets the federal government revamp its converter-box subsidy program, which had run out of money, and issue coupons to the millions of people on a waiting list.
The House approved the bill, 264-158, a week after the Senate did the same. President Obama has promised to sign the legislation.
Converter box
Many broadcasters already air a digital as well as an analog signal. Once analog signals cut off, consumers with older analog TV sets that receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna will need to buy a digital TV set or install a converter box to keep getting signals.
By law, broadcasters must shut off analog signals to free more airwaves for public-safety communications networks and new wireless services for consumers, such as wireless broadband service.
The bill passed by Congress will allow public-safety agencies to use the TV frequencies as they are vacated by stations.
The push to delay the transition began when the Commerce Department program to distribute coupons for converter boxes ran out of money.
Since then, more than 3.3 million consumers have been placed on a waiting list for the $40 coupons.
New coupons cannot be mailed out until already-issued ones reach their 90-day expiration date.
The economic-stimulus package moving through Congress has $650 million to help replenish the converter-box program and increase public-outreach efforts.
A top aide to Obama sent a letter asking members of Congress to consider delaying the transition so money from the stimulus package could be allocated to the transition.
The call for a delay was echoed by consumer groups and some broadcast networks. AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which spent billions last year to purchase the soon-to-be-freed airwaves, said the one-time delay would not hurt their plans to use the spectrum for their own advanced wireless products.
10 million viewers
Consumer advocates said as many as 10 million viewers now receive their programming solely from over-the-air broadcasts and are unprepared for the digital transition.
“Consumers are confused about where to buy their converter box, about which box to buy, how to hook up their box, what to do if they lose a channel they once got and whether they need a new antenna,” said Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst with Consumers Union.
“Changing the date allows them more time to grapple with those questions.”
Advocates who argued against a delay, including the Consumer Electronics Association, said the new date could make the transition even more perplexing for some viewers.
TV stations will be allowed to seek a federal waiver to turn off their analog signals before the new deadline. So instead of nearly all broadcasters making the switch Feb. 17, stations now may do so at different times over the next four months.
Switch no matter what
Several broadcasters have already stated their intention to make the switch Feb. 17, regardless of whether Congress moves the date.
That could create a patchwork quilt of signals in some markets, with certain stations broadcast only in digital and others in both analog and digital.
Some older converter boxes don’t have the ability to handle both types of signals, so some viewers may have to unplug the device to watch one channel broadcast in analog, then plug it back in to watch another in digital.
The vast majority of converter boxes manufactured in recent months have the ability to handle analog signals, but consumers should check before buying, Kelsey said.
