Second Vote set for DTV Delay on February 4th, 2009
The Senate has approved a second bill to delay the digital transition from Feb. 17th, 2009 to June 12th, 2009. Before becoming official, the House will only need a simple majority vote in favor of the bill to pass as opposed to the 2/3 majority vote needed for last weeks defeated bill.
With the delay expected to pass this go around, the Senate’s new bill has made some concessions to allow television stations the option to delay or proceed with the digital transition on Feb. 17th. Broadcasters have complained that a delay would force them to incur unnecessary costs by having to broadcast both analog and digital signals for almost 4 more months.
If the delay bill does pass, are television stations going to choose toshut off analog broadcasts anyway on Feb 17th, 2009?
ARSTechnica reported,
Republicans, however, argue that current FCC rules would still prevent many stations from transitioning ahead of the pack.
and the reasoning?
In a letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission today, Barton and Stearns also question whether the revised language will truly make the delay voluntary, suggesting that “because of interference concerns, most broadcast stations would not be allowed to transition under current FCC rules until around the time that all broadcast stations transition.”
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