House Rejects Digital TV Switch Delay

A proposed delay to the Federal Communication Commission's plan to end all analog TV broadcasts, which has passed in the Senate, did not pass in the House of Representatives when it came to vote today. Proponents of the delay, which received unanimous support in the Senate, are worried that the country cannot handle the end of analog TV; despite years of public notice, millions of TV sets still do not use digital signals. The FCC has been providing $40 discounts on analog-to-digital converters, which allow analog sets to use digital signals, but recently ran out of money. Opponents of the delay point to the huge expenditure on public notification and the additional cost to stations of maintaining their analog transmitters.

The switch, which is part of an effort to reclaim and reorganize parts of the airwaves used for broadcast, will go into effect on February 17. To find out more, and to check whether your TV needs a converter, visit the FCC's site devoted to the transition at http://www.dtv.gov/.

Sources: FCC, CNN.com