Congress extends Digital TV switchover to June 12 2009

Now that both the US House and Senate have voted in favor of similar bills to extend the DTV cutover by 4 months, it’s just a matter of the President signing off on it (and he’s in favor of it).

The argument in favor of extending the deadline goes something along the lines of TV stations and consumers not being ready. Guess what? Come June 12, they’re not all going to be ready either.

Pull off the bandaid already. It’s gonna hurt now, or in 4 months or in 12 months. But if the frequency spectrum being used for analog TV isn’t freed up, then it can’t be used for newer, better wireless technologies. Sometimes leadership involves pulling some of your population dragging and screaming forward with you. Don’t worry, when they get there, most of the reluctants will grudgingly change their mind.

In case you don’t know about the Digital TV Transition, there’s a .gov website covering the subject.