The 2009 Digital Television Debacle

[edthecynic]

At least we could get one station here prior to this debacle. Now we don't get any.

I can't get any stations. No Tv.

I think the transition period was originally two years, and it got at least one extension under Bush. Given the hype and the noise, if you weren't ready by Jan 2009, you didn't care enough to make it worth while.

And why should the government pay for TV?

I got 7 analog channels from one direction and 4 from another, all rather snowy, before the change. I get 21 and 19 crystal clear digital channels now. I had to get a new antenna to get the UHF channels the VHF analog stations moved to. I'm 54 miles from the first market and 56 miles from the other.

 

[Xenophon]

Get cable or sat TV and avoid worries.

 

[LibocalypseNow]

Why is the Government involved with this stuff in the first place? This issue never was a Government issue. Just another sad example of the Government over-reaching. The Government simply does too much at this point. It's time for real change. Make 2010 count people.

 

[Polk]

Why is the Government involved with this stuff in the first place? This issue never was a Government issue. Just another sad example of the Government over-reaching. The Government simply does too much at this point. It's time for real change. Make 2010 count people.

It's always been a government issue. The government has set the standards for television broadcasts from the very beginning.

 

[RadiomanATL]

Why is the Government involved with this stuff in the first place? This issue never was a Government issue. Just another sad example of the Government over-reaching. The Government simply does too much at this point. It's time for real change. Make 2010 count people.

It's always been a government issue. The government has set the standards for television broadcasts from the very beginning.

The government didn't want bandwidth hogging going on. Basically. In a nutshell.

Put it this way, in other countries they use around 3 times the bandwidth to broadcast, in analog, a high-definition picture. By going digital, we can get the same picture without using any more bandwidth.

Like I said earlier, good idea, just implemented horribly by the government.

 

[LibocalypseNow]

Doesn't make it right. This never was a Government issue. They simply over-reached again. They're doing that more & more these days. It's time for real change. The Government is doing too much and i think most common sense thinking Americans are beginning to understand this. 2010 could be the beginning of some real change. Lets hope so.

 

[Zona]

The transition was mandated by the Bush administration; the government and not the free market.
Judicial Watch failed to mention that fact.
Imagine that.

This entire thread should have stopped here.

 

[RadiomanATL]

Doesn't make it right. This never was a Government issue.

Broadcasting anything over the airwaves is ALWAYS a government issue.

 

[RadiomanATL]

The transition was mandated by the Bush administration; the government and not the free market.
Judicial Watch failed to mention that fact.
Imagine that.

This entire thread should have stopped here.

Except it wasn't exactly on point either.

 

[California Girl]

It matters not to me if it was Clinton, Bush or Obama. Its 450 million for TV! Since when is that a "right"?

Waste, waste, and more waste.

If is often the problem with fools, the overlook the actual issue to gnaw at the bone of partisanship.

 

[LibocalypseNow]

The Government wants to own you and not just the airwaves. When will people finally wake up from their long slumber?

 

[Polk]

Doesn't make it right. This never was a Government issue. They simply over-reached again. They're doing that more & more these days. It's time for real change. The Government is doing too much and i think most common sense thinking Americans are beginning to understand this. 2010 could be the beginning of some real change. Lets hope so.

I swear, it would help you small government types if you actually read the Constitution instead of emoting that everything which happens is unconstitutional..

"To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;"

 

[LibocalypseNow]

I didn't say it was Unconstitutional. I said it was a gross Government over-reach. Unfortunately they're doing that more & more these days. They're just doing too much. More & more people just want them to get off their backs. Congress should only meet a couple times a year. They're simply in session too much at this point. How many more new Laws do we really need for God's sake? The Government really does want to own you and not just the airwaves. It's time for people to wake up from their slumber and figure this out.

 

[JenyEliza]

Get cable or sat TV and avoid worries.

Why should "We the People" pay for something that has always been available to us for FREE (via all the commercial advertising we STILL have to watch on pay tv, even)?

It's kinda like in Britain, where you have to pay for a LICENSE PER TV. They even have trucks that go around and monitor whether you're operating an unlicensed TV.

Comcast does that here in the apartment complex. The night before Christmas they sat in front of my building for about 2 hours monitoring the upstairs neighbor. About a week later the Feds showed up to arrest the old lady for cable theft. Nice stuff.

 

[LibocalypseNow]

Yes our Congress needs to be in session much less often. They should only meet a couple times a year. They're just over-reaching so much at this point. The less they're in session,the less harm they can do to our nation. Personally i don't want to see Reid & Pelosi's sour mugs on TV ever again. How much more damage can they do? Pretty sad & scary stuff.

 

[Xenophon]

Get cable or sat TV and avoid worries.

Why should "We the People" pay for something that has always been available to us for FREE (via all the commercial advertising we STILL have to watch on pay tv, even)?

It's kinda like in Britain, where you have to pay for a LICENSE PER TV. They even have trucks that go around and monitor whether you're operating an unlicensed TV.

Comcast does that here in the apartment complex. The night before Christmas they sat in front of my building for about 2 hours monitoring the upstairs neighbor. About a week later the Feds showed up to arrest the old lady for cable theft. Nice stuff.

Show us in the constitution where you are awarded free TV for life and you would have a point.

 

[Polk]

So Jeny agrees that the transition assistance was bad... but also thinks that she shouldn't have to pay for the conversion process. That makes sense...

 

[sherp]

Serious question. Why did we need to switch from analog to digital anyway?

 

[Polk]

Serious question. Why did we need to switch from analog to digital anyway?

Just to list a few of the advantages of digital television, it allows broadcast in multiple resolutions (analog only allows one) and it frees up wireless bandwidth.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

And why should the govt have paid for converter boxes anyway?

did the Digital TV/converter box issue start on Obama's watch?
And why did he get it in such a mess?

Why stop analog transmissions? Seems to me the Government wanted the bandwidth. So it IS the Governments fault. And Obama's action cost an additional 300 million. THAT would be why we would blame him.