Senate Passes Digital TV Delay Bill; House Vote Expected Soon

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 27, 2009 - 9:45am.

Washington - The U.S. Senate on Monday passed a bill that would delay by about four months the transition to digital TV broadcasting, giving consumers more time to prepare and the government more time to distribute coupons for digital TV converter boxes. The bill is a compromise between Democrats and Republicans, with provisions that will allow stations to switch to digital before the June 12 date, so that public safety agencies may make use of the freed spectrum. The bill will also provide companies who bid on some of the spectrum that will be freed by the analog switchoff with 116 additional days on their licenses.

Importantly, the bill will expand the converter box coupon program, whose initial $1.34 billion outlay has run out.

The government is currently maintaining a list of some 2.5 million Americans who have requested but not yet been issued coupons for converter boxes.

"The Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged process," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), author of the bill.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has shelved plans to push a separate House bill, and instead will bring the Senate bill up for a House floor vote today or Wednesday.

Last week, Nielsen released a report that estimated that 6.5 million U.S. households are unprepared for the digital TV transition.