[opendtv] Re: Democrats Air Concerns About Analog Switchover
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 14:15:38 -0800
You are looking for bogeymen in general, and have been knee-deep in that
regard on this topic for years.
Could you provide ANY SOURCE where this has been discussed in the last 10
days?
It's possible that a meteor will strike the headline performer at a Marilyn
Manson concert. Not likely, but always possible.
I tend to count the votes. The House Democrats, were they of a mind, could
get a delay passed in their body. The Senate Democrats would need at least
a few (9 or more) Republicans on their side to get it passed. Then, the
President would have to sign.
That is, if they were talking about delaying the transition at this time.
Indeed, any reading between the lines would lead all but the most
monomaniacal to believe that they were shoring up the deadline by their
interest in making sure the boxes are available, etc.
I'd just love to see what mischief is created to try to delay the
transition. I tend to doubt that it will come from the NAB or MSTV. Maybe
ACORN -- between indictments -- will come to the cause (in other words, big
labor, but a group that doesn't permit it's workers to organize.)
John Willkie
-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Tom Barry
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 8:05 PM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: Democrats Air Concerns About Analog Switchover
John Willkie wrote:
> P.S. This isn't about the switchover per se, but how much money and
effort
> the government has or will be put into the boxes. THEY only WANT TO
SPEND
> THE MONEY!
Yes, but it is worrisome since they may insist on delaying the
transition if cheap workable converter boxes are not available for
everyone by 2 years from now. We really don't need that.
- Tom
> Boss of what? (She can't even get the quasi-corrupt Murtha elected on her
> voice.)
>
> Last I checked, it took 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate, and I
> think the caucus chairs are having trouble with even the freshmen. (Steny
> Hoyer's name was put into the ring by (among others) a freshman.)
>
> John Willkie
>
> P.S. This isn't about the switchover per se, but how much money and
effort
> the government has or will be put into the boxes. THEY only WANT TO SPEND
> THE MONEY!
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On
> Behalf Of John Shutt
> Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 2:57 PM
> To: OpenDTV
> Subject: [opendtv] Democrats Air Concerns About Analog Switchover
>
> Meet the new boss...
>
> John
>
> http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11084
>
> Democrats Air Concerns About Analog Switchover
>
> By Ira Teinowitz
>
> On the eve of their takeover of the House, Democrats on Thursday raised
new
> issues about the government's plan to manage the switchover from analog to
> digital TV in 2009 and hinted that the switch could be delayed if the
> program isn't handled right.
>
> "Failure to devise a consumer-friendly converter box program, or to inform
> consumers properly of its existence, could significantly jeopardize the
> public's acceptance of the transition and derail the firm deadline," said
> incoming House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell,
D-Mich.,
>
> and committee Democrats in a letter to the National Telecommunications and
> Information Administration. The NTIA is the president's principal adviser
on
>
> telecommunications policy.
>
> Democrats have been critical of the Republicans' plan for the switchover,
> suggesting insufficient money has being set aside to provide converter
boxes
>
> to analog households or to publicize the switch. The new letter signals
that
>
> those concerns will continue in the next Congress, when the Democrats take
> charge.
>
> "We continue to believe this plan is highly flawed and disadvantages the
> poor, the elderly, minority groups, and those with multiple analog
> television sets in their home," the letter states.
>
> The Democrats didn't propose to immediately change the Feb. 17, 2009,
> switchover date. Instead, their concerns are whether offering $40 coupons
> for converters only to homes without cable or satellite is sufficient,
> whether the government needs to require that converter boxes don't provide
> downgraded signals, and that the $5 million spending on a consumer
education
>
> touting the change is "woefully inadequate for such a broad and
fundamental
> change."
>
> The government's limiting the boxes to over-the-air households "would
> unfairly disenfranchise consumers who possess perfectly functioning analog
> televisions," according to the letter. "Consumers who have purchased
analog
> [TVs] deserve a government backed plan to hold them harmless in this
> transition."
>
> The letter said the converter boxes "at a minimum [should] replicate the
> picture and audio quality consumers experience today when watching their
> analog televisions," and called on the agency to see that the government's
> $5 million public education effort is bolstered by industry efforts.
>
>
>
>
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--
Tom Barry trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx
Find my resume and video filters at www.trbarry.com
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