DTV Transition Hype

DTV Transition Temporarily Down The Tubes

Here we go again! Thanks to poor planning on behalf of the government, we now have a delay in the DTV transition. The transition, which was originally scheduled to go into effect on February 17, 2009, has now been delayed until June 12, 2009.

On Wednesday, President Obama signed the DTV Delay Act, citing that millions of people are not quite ready for the analog-to-digital conversion, and subsequently postponed this wonderful milestone in our telecommunication industry for another couple of months. People are confused enough about this issue. Why not at least make the date the same, i.e., the 17th of June? Where do these dates come from anyway?

Over It, Already

Last year, approximately 12 months ago, we all started hearing about the new DTV hype. The first I remember about it was seeing a commerical on television. A little old lady was hired to announce the converter box controversy and got the opportunity of a lifetime to tell the world about this new change in the telecommunication industry. Everybody started getting all hot and bothered and worried about what they needed to do to comply so that they would have the ability to continue watching television NEXT YEAR!!

Personally, I didn't pay much attention to the commercials and the hype. After all, why bother worrying? The DTV transition was not even scheduled to go into effect for over a year.

Inconsistency, Rumors, Speculation, Worries

Over the last year, there have been so many different questions and debates regarding this DTV conversion. Everyone you speak to has a different opinion, theory or idea of what or what isn't going to happen or even if and when it will happen. The cable television providers don't even seem to be able to offer a consistent story anymore, as they seem to be just as confused as the millions of people calling them are. Some people are under the impression they need a high-definition TV, while others rush out and purchase converter boxes to make sure they will be in compliance when the change goes into effect.

The government has apparently exhausted its "coupon" fund allotment, spending $1.3 billion printing coupons for converter boxes. Now, a stimulus package has been designed so that millions more will be spent to print more coupons. I am really getting tired of the way the term "stimulus" is consistently being used in today's society. This doesn't stimulate anything, except for an incredible, pathetic waste of government spending! It doesn't stimulate me in the least bit!

Why not just reduce the cost of the converter boxes all together, or come up with some other solution, rather than wasting millions of pounds of paper and ink to print coupons? I suppose there will be more confusing literature printed on the actual coupons themselves that will more than likely discombobulate the inquiring minds of the people who eventually receive these coupons.

Where will alll these coupons end up? They will end up polluting our already over-filled barges and landfills. We have enough junk mail polluting these barges and landfills already, and now we will be populating them with converter box coupons! Why don't we just dig a giant hole somewhere and dump zillions of taxpayer dollars into it, because this is essentially what is happening by spending billions of dollars printing up these ridiculous coupons!! Is the government going to recycle these coupons into confetti to be used at next year's dropping of the ball in Times Square?

The bottom line, which really ticks me off, is that billions of taxpayer dollars are being utilized to print and distrubute coupons for converter boxes for this DTV transition, when it is totally unnecessary. I feel everyone should have an equal opportunity to participate in the DTV transition; however, we don't need to waste tax dollars doing it by printing out unnecessary coupons.

Just think of all those billions of dollars in paper and ink that the government could be using to feed the homeless, to send out "real" stimulus packages to blue and white collar workers, to help our war veterans, to spend on beefing up our pathetic economy, creating jobs, etc.

The ironicity of all of this is that, with this recession we are in, by the time the DTV transition does eventually go into effect, there won't be any jobs left in America; people won't be able to afford televisions, let alone pay for cable television or converter boxes (coupons or not).

The government really needs to focus on more important issues right now. This DTV hype and all the billions of dollars that are being spent could be better spent on improving our economy!

Create jobs, not coupons!!