Organizing for America | Transition to Digital Television Impact On Underserved Americans: Getting Legislation Closer to DTV Transition June 2009 Date

Post from Transition to Digital Television Impact On Underserved Americans:

Getting Legislation Closer to DTV Transition June 2009 Date

By DeeNice, The Digital Dynamo - Jan 24th, 2009 at 1:11 am EST

Also listed in: African-Americans For Obama | Transition to Digital Television

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Tags: delay, digital converter box, disabled, DTV, hispanic, jay rockefeller, Kay-Bailey-Hutchison, minorities, Podesta, President Obama, Rural, Seniors, transition to digital television

There is a revised legislation, based on what Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) had introduced last week requesting a delay until June 12, 2009 for the transition from analog to digital television. In order to make sure every American has access to TV communication, more time is needed.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to extend the Feb. 17, 2009 DTV transition date back. Transition co-chair John Podesta stated "Funds to support this conversion are woefully inadequate, particularly to address the problems of seniors and low income viewers."

The Transition to Digital Television is a "Digital Disaster on the Horizon." With the advent of the permanent switch from analog to digital on Feb. 17, 2009, millions will be left in the dark if action is not taken immediately to push the date back several months.

This action is in the best interested of the current 17 million Americans who are not ready or partially ready for the DTV switch. Even with the intervention of technical assistance it would be impossible to be ready. The underserved groups will be hard pressed to be digitally connected in time.

If you currently have a rooftop or rabbit ears antenna in your home you have 3 choices:

    * Purchase a new Digital Television
    * Order a Pay -TV service (i.e. cable, fios, satellite)
    * Purchase and connect a digital converter box

With the DTV switch from analog to digital the push back the date approach will allow those of us in the grassroots arena to implement a more effective outreach performance, as oppose to getting it done in less that a month. Which would be impossibility?

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