The analog extension is back on

As many of you already know the extension of analog TV is back on. After initially being turned down by the U.S. House of Representatives, somehow it was revisited and then voted on again; this time with enough votes to pass.

Known as the DTV Delay Act of 2009 (Bill HR 681) here is how clarification provisions of the bill read:

Declares that this Act does not prevent: (1) a station from ending analog broadcasting (and continuing to broadcast exclusively digitally) before June 13, 2009; or (2) a public safety service from beginning operations on spectrum recovered as a result of such voluntary cessation of analog or digital broadcasting.

So what does this "law" do? It allows the converter box coupon program to get additional funding and to continue beyond February 17, 2009 to June 13, 2009.

What does this law NOT do? It doesn't force any television station to continue broadcasting in analog if they don't choose to. And most WILL NOT CHOOSE TO because it is costing them a lot of money to broadcast in Analog AND digital.

So let's break it down. If you still want or need a $40 coupon to buy a digital converter box (and most people still don't know if they need one or not), then you can still apply for one and get one. The coupon will give you $40.00 off the purchase of a converter box, which averages between $50 and $60 dollars each. For those that do not have them yet, THEY ARE STILL OUT OF LUCK.

Digital is here, there is no way to stop it. The law that was passed is about funding for a program. The program in question was supposedly broke. But if they stop and count all of the coupons they issued that were never used the question becomes, were they really broke?????

Digital TV reception is bad. The FCC wanted consumer to continue to receive free over-the-air TV ever though broadcast TV stations were forced to convert digital. The FCC figured that if a consumer received X number of channels in analog, they would receive the same number of channels in digital. They figured wrong. Digital TV signals are much, much weaker than analog signals. So if you receive a digital channel, you'll get a great picture, but if you don't receive a channel very well, there won't be a fuzzy or snowy picture, there won't be any picture at all.

This law/bill does not address reception issues. However, reception issues are what everyone who is relying on a converter box for over-the-air TV is worried about. Many, or most, have realized that their antenna TVs used to get a lot more channels than they do with a digital converter box. It's not the box's fault. It's the signal from the TV station.

Some TV stations have increased their signal power, some plan to soon, and some don't plan to. So good luck. You're on your own. Nobody is addressing this issue. Not the FCC, not your State, not your local government, not the TV stations themselves, no Congressman, no Senators, NOBODY.

And therein lies the problem. This whole digital conversion thing is not about converter boxes and extensions of official dates. It is about TV reception. All the extensions and all the funding for digital converter boxes and all of the public service announcements aren't going to amount to a hill of beans because digital TV reception sucks.

The FCC overlooked it and doesn't care about it. All of the rules and regulations took placed for the most part under the Bush Administration who appointed Republican cronies to the jobs at the FCC. These were cushy jobs that had no accountability, as usual. And only now is the U.S. government realizing what has happened.