A final vote on legislation to delay the digital television transition has been postponed until Wednesday morning, but House members braved a Washington, D.C. ice storm Tuesday night for a partisan battle over the impending switch.
Pushing the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12 is “a highly regrettable but necessary step," said Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce technology subcommittee.
Boucher was the only Democrat to appear at the floor debate, facing off against seven of his Republican colleagues, all of whom opposed the measure.
The bill is “a solution looking for a problem," said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “We could do nothing worse than to delay this date."
TV broadcast stations are federally mandated to switch from analog to digital signals by February 17 in order to free up spectrum for public safety and other uses. Recent concerns about consumer preparedness, funding for the government-sponsored converter box coupon program, and possible loss of service, however, prompted the Obama administration to ask that the transition be delayed.
Barton suggested that the request from the Obama team disrupted efforts to fix the program's problems without delaying the transition.
Pushing the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12 is “a highly regrettable but necessary step," said Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce technology subcommittee.
Boucher was the only Democrat to appear at the floor debate, facing off against seven of his Republican colleagues, all of whom opposed the measure.
The bill is “a solution looking for a problem," said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “We could do nothing worse than to delay this date."
TV broadcast stations are federally mandated to switch from analog to digital signals by February 17 in order to free up spectrum for public safety and other uses. Recent concerns about consumer preparedness, funding for the government-sponsored converter box coupon program, and possible loss of service, however, prompted the Obama administration to ask that the transition be delayed.
Barton suggested that the request from the Obama team disrupted efforts to fix the program's problems without delaying the transition.
