Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Director's Alert: House Approves DTV Delay, Sends Bill to Obama

Editor's Note: The House of Representatives, by a 264-to-158 vote, today ended the debate over whether the country is ready for the digital TV transition with a clear "no."

It sent to President Obama legislation for a "one-time only delay" that would postpone the digital transition from Feb. 17 until June 12th.

Now, if the President signs it, the next question will be what will Nielsen do about the February book that was moved to March? Stay tuned on this one.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress has now decided to give people four more months to prepare for the upcoming transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting.

The House voted Wednesday to postpone the end of analog TV signals until June 12. The move is meant to address concerns that more than 6.5 million Americans with older TVs would not be ready by Feb. 17, the originally mandated deadline.

The House took up the question last week but under a special procedure that required more than a simple majority. This time it went through a normal vote.

The Senate passed the measure unanimously last week and the bill now heads to President Barack Obama for his signature. Obama's spokesman has said the president will sign it.



Sources: The Associated Press & NBC