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It seems that the long-awaited transition to DTV has been challenged, and possibly delayed, by President Barack Obama’s transition team. After many months of sending out coupons, the federal coupon program finally ran out of funds. Coupons have also reportedly arrived late, after their expiration dates have past, and some coupons have been sent out to consumers who don’t really need them. President Obama’s team called for a postponement of the transition in order to make sure that consumers are actually ready for the switch, rather than having a large section of the population go without TV in the weeks following the transition, which would be a very bad situation for broadcasters. As of January 26th, the delay was approved by a unanimous decision of the U.S. Senate even though former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, prior to his resignation, made comments that
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After many months of sending out coupons, the federal coupon program has finally run out of funds. |
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date, the original DTV deadline still stands. Should it pass a second House vote, the new deadline for the DTV transition would be June 12, 2009, although some broadcasters would be allowed to make the switch earlier. The extra time will also, hopefully, help the millions of confused consumers sort out any issues and make the change smoothly and without too much hassle.On that note, Martin has offered his official resignation from the FCC, effective as of January 20, 2009, the date that President Obama’s new administration began. The FCC issued an official release announcing the resignation and highlighting some of Martin’s accomplishments
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a delay in the transition would only add to the confusion of already puzzled consumers and lead to difficulties for broadcasters who are already doing away with their analog broadcasting equipment. However, the postponement was voted down by the House of Representatives a few days later. The issue may be up for a re-vote in the House and may still pass, though as of Pipeline’s publishing
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during his time as Chairman, including broadband growth, broadband investment incentives, broadband data collection, and numerous other citations. The document seems to be particularly proud of Martin’s issuance of “over $150 million in fines, most ever under any Chairman.”
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