Lawmakers Get Cold Feet For DTV, Shotgun Wedding Continues As Planned

This is why the world is in the crapper: House lawmakers, who've spent years preparing the country for the Feb 17, 2009 switchover to DTV and countless dollars on commercials telling the poor elderly how to keep their televisions working, decided at the last minute that they wanted to postpone the switchover.

Why? Because despite those years and dollars, Nielsen reports suggest that up to 6.5 million households in the US are still unprepared for the switchover, and millions of consumers have yet to receive coupons for digital converter boxes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The NTIA has already spent the $1.3 billion set aside for those coupons.

In other words, the government wanted to delay the switchover because it has proven itself incapable of managing the switchover on multiple fronts. Why would we expect less from a government that can't manage domestic or foreign affairs, toppled the economy, ballooned the deficit and mangled a war it didn't need?

The Senate unanimously approved delaying the transition to June 12, as have President Obama's advisers, who all agree that the Bush administration "grossly mismanaged" the program. House Republicans managed to derail the delay with a vote of 258 to 168 against, and the Senate has set aside an additional $650 million for coupons.

For better or for worse, the switchover is once again proceeding as planned and long-promised.

House rejects DTV delay, keeps Feb. switchover [CNet]