Housing Bill Underway to Delay DTV Until June

Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV), incoming Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has authored legislation that would delay the upcoming digital television transition (DTV). The delay provides consumers who have been bogged down by the confusing bureaucracy time to prepare, protects public safety, and gives the incoming Obama Administration time to make sure that no Americans are left in the dark.

The outgoing Bush Administration has mismanaged this initiative and President-elect Obama has asked Congress to delay the date of the transition. Over two million Americans are waiting to receive a coupon to help them offset the cost of equipment that will help them manage the transition millions more dont have the proper information they need, Rockefeller said.

It did not have to be this way. This is why today I have introduced a bill to delay the date of the DTV transition to June 12, 2009. I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition, Rockefeller said.

I am especially concerned because this transition is going to hit our most vulnerable citizens the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and those with language barriers the hardest. Rural communities that rely on over-the-air television will be especially impacted. We risk leaving those who are most reliant on over-the-air broadcast television for their information literally in the dark, and Im fighting to see that this does not occur, Rockefeller said in his blog on Friday.