DTV Conversion Delayed: DAMMIT!!!!!!

UPDATE #2: DAMN! I heard today that Obama will be signing the bill to postpone the conversion. S&*#!!!!!

UPDATE: WHEW!!! The House of Representatives voted on Jan. 28th to NOT postpone the DTV conversion. YEAH!!! It's still slated for Feb. 17th. (Go here for more info.) Gee, I wonder if the MSM will characterize this as a "major defeat" for the Obama administration ... probably not. (See below for the background behind that snide comment.)

Aaaaaaargh!!!! I am so sick of hearing the reminders, warnings, and consumer tips on converting your TV over to digital before the big deadline of February 17th. Now, comes the horrible news that this torture must continue: Yesterday, the Senate voted unanimously to delay the switchover by another four months.

USAToday reported:

The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12 — setting the stage for Congress to pass the proposal as early as Tuesday.

Monday's Senate vote is a big victory for the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress, who have been pushing for a delay amid growing concerns that too many Americans won't be ready for the currently scheduled Feb. 17 changeover. [Is it just me, or does that "big victory for the Obama administration" sound goofy? Oh, I forgot -- we're still in the throes of Obamaforia.]

The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals could see their TV sets go dark next month if the transition is not postponed.

Obama pushed for the postponement when the Commerce Department reported that it had hit its $1.34 billion funding limit on its converter box coupons. (The converters cost between $40 and $80, and the coupons offered consumers about $40 towards their purchase.) In 2005, Congress passed legislation requiring broadcasters to switch from analog to digital signals, thereby freeing up my wireless airwaves for commercial wireless services and emergency response networks.

The USAToday article continues:

Republicans in both the House and Senate have raised concerns that a delay would confuse consumers, burden wireless companies and public safety agencies waiting for the airwaves that will be vacated and create added costs for television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals.

Paula Kerger, president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, estimates that delaying the digital TV transition to June 12 would cost public broadcasters $22 million.

Gee, at least some legislators were thinking about the cost of the delay ... momentarily, anyway.

We are condemned to another four months of "if you can still see this broadcast ...", "... you have only four more months to make the conversion ..." Aaaaaaaaargh!!!!

Oh, and let's not forget the environmental impact this conversion has. Almost simultaneously, USAToday also reported on the EPA's and environmentalists' concerns about the impact this DTV switch will have on soil, water and air pollution.

Here is an excerpt from USAToday:

And later this year — either on Feb. 17 or on June 12 if Congress passes a delay — the USA will switch from analog to digital TV transmission. The number of unwanted TVs will go even higher as consumers upgrade to sets capable of receiving high-definition broadcasts.

Though a TV set is benign in the living room, it's not when it is broken up to reach the reusable materials inside. There's a lot of lead, a bit of barium, cadmium, chromium, traces of gold and even mercury in the lamps on some flat screens.

The best way to deal with them is not to throw them away at all but to keep using them, says John Cross of EPA's Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery. Buying a converter box or getting cable or satellite TV will keep a TV useful for years. But if TVs are discarded, the federal agency wants to make sure the materials in them are recycled.

The problem, according to a Government Accountability Office report last year, is that the EPA's "enforcement is lacking." That has left most of the regulatory work up to the states, only some of which license and audit recycling companies.

Funds for consumer coupons but not for enforcing safe recycling practices. Lovely.