Lost in transition

The digital revolution is coming, and surprisingly, we’re not ready.

Though President Obama called for a delay of the digital television transition from Feb. 17 to June 12 and the Senate passed the bill, the House voted it down, giving Americans less than one month to get ready.

And that’s not going to be enough time.

While a good portion of the House was opposed to the decision because of worries there would be a delay of the plan Congress decreed in 2005 – which has been thought of as a priority since the late 1990s – it will only make uninformed consumers even more confused. There are too many issues working against the February date to go through with the transition.

Too many people are still in the dark. Even with the incessant commercials and public service announcements that have been running since last year, somehow people still don’t know that if they get TV signals from an antenna, they’ll need a converter box.

Fourteen million people will need a converter, and 65 percent of the population is unclear of exactly what they’re getting or why they even need it. That accounts for only 53 percent of the government-sponsored vouchers for $40 towards a converter box – which could cost up to $100 – being used at this moment.

Even worse, the budget set aside for this program is maxed out at about $1.34 billion, which is actually preventing the people who do know what’s going on from getting their vouchers soon enough. A waitlist exists with more than 103,000 people on it, and the government is looking for ways to get those vouchers printed.

All in all, we’re looking to at least 7.7 million households unprepared for the transition and an entire infrastructure plan in shambles.

And they shouldn’t have pushed this back?

It’s absolutely possible that the extended time table could have led to more confusion, but the new administration seems dedicated to getting the word out about the conversion. Chances are it will take more lame public service announcements and informational pieces on the nightly news, but at this point, if we’re going to make the switch, the government is going to have to clean up the mess.

Looking at it now, it’s clear that the American people didn’t take this transition as seriously as they should have. The vouchers have been available and the media has been beating the message into the ground, but people just haven’t gotten around to buying the box. Hopefully, the disagreement and discussion of this news will be the catalyst that gets them to do so.

The deadline extension on DTV transition would have been costly, but eventually worth it. The extra space for Internet access in underdeveloped areas and the nationwide public safety network that would allow emergency crews and first responders to communicate more easily during emergencies seem to be good things.

Now we’re looking at millions of people confused and without television in a month. It might have been their fault, but politics shouldn’t have kept the government from doing what was right.