RUN! Don't walk...from the digital television transition!

[Ilander]

Anyone besides me notice the complete hysteria in the media (and our collective parents/grandparents) over the digital television transition here in America?

I personally first heard about the switchover back in 2003...and, the Netherlands didn't fall into the ocean back in 2006 when they switched.

As far as it goes with the coupons...well, people had a full year to get them. I don't have any sympathy for people who put it off until now, and can't get coupons...and it drives me nuts that the Obama cabinet wants to delay the transition.

America needs that bandwidth for other things.

[Felix The Assassin]

Originally Posted by Ilander Anyone besides me notice the complete hysteria in the media (and our collective parents/grandparents) over the digital television transition here in America? I personally first heard about the switchover back in 2003...and, the Netherlands didn't fall into the ocean back in 2006 when they switched. As far as it goes with the coupons...well, people had a full year to get them. I don't have any sympathy for people who put it off until now, and can't get coupons...and it drives me nuts that the Obama cabinet wants to delay the transition. America needs that bandwidth for other things.

I feel like saying what my daughter element would say, "whatever"!

However, I must inquire, what bandwidth are you exactly concerned about? Why would anybody need anything in the UHF, VHF frequency range?

[Ilander]

They sold those bands off to the private market, who are ready to make plans to utilize them...hopefully for things like last-mile broadband solutions and the like.

For example, Verizon bought almost all ofthe 700MHz block C and AT&T bought most of block B. These companies, with this additional bandwidth, can offer a great deal of additional communications infrastructure to our country, and, as a Kentuckian who probably has a cell phone, I'm sure who can understand how the last bit of coverage, while being the hardest to cover, is a vital step toward ensuring things like emergency response and internet coverage for rural areas.

[Larry_OHF]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2164364/posts

I like how they started this news report. At first, I did not believe the rumor that Obama would have the foolish audacity to screw with something like this...and had to google for news to see if it was true.

He's not even president yet and is already showing how foolish he is.
Not a way to get started as a man who supposed to make important decisions.
It's not his to make, it's already been decided...and to favor the 5% over the 95%...well...

[Ilander]

Well...the sentiment of "well, clearly we screwed up, since there aren't enough coupons to go around" is not so bad...I don't blame the politicians here...well...much.

I do blame the people who picked up the coupons for their homes that have cable (i.e. the ignorant), or the people who defrauded the system to purchase more than two (i.e. the unlawfully ignorant), or the people who haven't bothered to learn what is going on until the last second (i.e. the willfully ignorant).

[Bungleau]

There's another group you're not considering... those who allowed their coupons to expire, which happens 90 days after they're mailed.

Their loss, and it *should* make another coupon available to someone else...

*edit* Just saw that fund from expired coupons are being added back into the pot, and dealing with the waiting list.

[Firestormalpha]

People have had more than a year to figure it out right? No reason to push the date back at all.

[JrKASperov]

Here in Hollandsky that digital tv stuff hasn't really gotten off the ground yet, but it's steadily gaining. Slow transformations are slow.

[ElfBane]

Let the friggin' Luddites go dark. If you refuse to go with technology, then just get out of the way.

[Ilander]

It actually is a bit irritating to me that we have the coupon program in the first place, as I'm pretty sure that it drove the price through the roof, instead of letting the market sort it out. Yes, the converter boxes would be pretty expensive close to the time of the transition, but there actually is no reason for them to be very expensive otherwise---they're simple technology, and not at all expensive to produce.