House Passes Bill to Delay Digital Television Transition

HOUSE PASSES BILL TO DELAY DIGITAL TELEVISION TRANSITION

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, joined a bipartisan majority today to vote for S. 352, The DTV Delay Act. The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 264 to 158, would extend the transition deadline from analog-to-digital transition from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009. The DTV Delay Act would not only postpone the transition, but it would also solve many of the problems that have prevented households from making the transition.

"Without this bill, millions of American — including 5,200 families in my district alone — would have seen their televisions 'go dark' in exactly two weeks,... said U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). "As the deadline approached, it became clear that the existing government programs to support the transition were completely insufficient. Today's bill will fix those problems and give Americans more time to make a smooth transition to digital television....

The DTV Delay Act would take a number of steps to mitigate the impact on consumers created by the transition. The provisions include:

• Delaying the transition by 115 days and extending the license terms of the commercial and public safety entities that will use the DTV spectrum after the transition by a corresponding number of days.
• Permitting consumers who never redeemed coupons to reapply for replacement coupons, provided that no household can redeem more than two coupons.
• Expressly preserving the ability of broadcasters to transition before the new transition date, if such a move does not interfere with another broadcast signal.
• Expressly preserving the ability of public safety entities to use the DTV spectrum before the new transition date, subject to existing FCC rules.