Can we start a pool as to WHEN the “change” is happening?
I’m going for late 2010.
The sale of the band exceeds the cost of the subsidies, but the money from the sale of the band isn’t earmarked for the subsidies. The money from the sale of the band goes into the Treasury General Fund, just like your income taxes, and the sale of treasury securities, and tariffs, and so on. It’s not specifically paying for the subsidy.
Alright, fair enough.
I would submit that those who are arguing for changing the date which has been established have the burden of arguing for the extension, but I will go ahead anyways.
First, all of the arguments for the extension will still be the same on June 11th. Some people won’t be ready, the coupons will have run out or some people won’t have received them/applied for them yet. There will be people in rural areas who can get an average analog signal, but no digital signal, etc.
What gets me upset about this is that it is typical of modern U.S. society: We must move at the pace of the slowest person. There is a world of technology waiting to be developed once those analog signals are gone.
I would ask the naysayers this question: What if I can’t afford a used analog TV set, or an entertainment center to put it in? Should the government buy one/both of those for me?
You’re misinterpreting the argument for the extension. It’s not just that “Some people aren’t ready”. It’s that “A large segment of the population isn’t ready, due to mishandling of the transition by the FCC and the underfunding of the coupon program.” The whole idea behind the four months is that the transition problems will be ironed out.
This was done purely for politics. The problem isn’t so much the boxes but the effect on Obama.
Mr Obama doesn’t want a huge disaster so early on in his term. You think abortion and gay marriage are hot topics, try taking away TV. Especially old people and poor people the two groups most likely to be hurt.
I can hear the cries “Not even a month into his presidency and Obama has…”
I live in Chicago 3 miles NW of Sears Tower, with analog I get 16 over the air (OTA) stations. With a digital TV I get ZERO stations. Not even ONE station. I will lose TV all together. If I put a converter box on an analog station I get ONE TV station continually and two other pixilated that are unwatchable.
So I’ll have to get cable. It irks me I now have to pay for something that was free.
They should impliment this market by market, start at NYC and then work out the bugs before moving to LA then Chicago then down the line.
Each area will have its own problems unique to the terrain, so it makes sense to do it market by market. But that’s too much like sense.
So even if everyone had a converter box, many will be out of luck with TV.
It makes no sense to say no TV for poor people so that rich people can have wireless Internet and cell phones.
Then they pull that “We need frequencies for first responders.” Well if this is true, then take some frequencies from cell phone that are NOW being used. A cell phone isn’t as important as a first responder. Cell phones are a convenient back up to a landline.
The real deal with this is money. You don’t make money from giving away TV for free
Actually, in many cases, cell phones are being used as a complete substitute for a land line.
This. I know a lot of people (myself included) don’t even have landlines anymore and rely on their cell phone 100%.
I don’t use a land line.
They did kill the first FM broadcast band (42-50 MHz) after World War II.
It isn’t a “large segment,” which is what frustrates people. Before anyone got a converter, and a lot of people have, less than 7 million homes were to be affected by the issue of conversion. How many of them have actually gotten converters by now? Over half a million of the 6 point whatever million homes are in LA, so couldn’t they just delay things in areas that are going to be challenged by the voucher delay, and give people who are waiting in less affected areas the first crack at the next round of vouchers?
Ohhhh Stop it!!! That is just tooo funny!!!
So, for the spectrum that is being cleared out by the transition, when, roughly, would the first responders and others actually start using it? The day after the transition? Two months from then? Several years from then? Has Motorola and other companies actually built the radios to use on the new frequencies, and have police departments actually bought them?
The only reason I have a land line at this point is that occasionally (as in 3 or 4 times a year) I work with some customer who wants something faxed. I didn’t have a land line for seven years prior to that, and I never missed it.
Cell phones are hardly a ‘backup to a landline’.
This must have been what I was thinking about, then. Did the government pay for people who had purchased these 42-50 MHz radios to get new radios that were compliant with the new FM band?
This is no reason whatsoever to force all of society to move at the pace of its slowest members. This technology is already old, and once again progress is supposed to stop for the benefit of the people who refuse to accept that time marches on.
To me, that is an absurd way to behave.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Why the need for a supermajority to pass the bill in the House? I’m not familiar with the mechanics of this particular bill aside from the issue surrounding it.
The bill was being considered under the Suspension Calendar, and bills that are being considered under suspended rules need a two-thirds majority to pass.
I understand your principled objection to delay. However, I am asking what the practical implications are of a delay.
(I’m afraid, that for purposes of this discussion, I don’t consider damage to principles as being a practical consideration… no matter how much it may hurt!)
So how about the millions of dollars that Qualcomm says it will lose due to being unable to use MediaFLO in the spectrum that is supposed to be vacant on Feb. 18 in 25 different markets such as Boston, Houston, Miami and San Francisco, thus preventing them from expanding the service on schedule?
They paid 550 million dollars for the spectrum they purchased, and the COO Len Lauer says they’re going to lose tens of millions if the transition is delayed.
Is that practical enough for you?
The bill was defeated in the House. Yeah.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/28/technology/AP-Digital-TV-Transition.html
Yes, that is helpful.
Do you know anything WRT the question I asked about re-use of the spectrum? I’ve googled for information on this several times and came up with zippy.