Are you one of the 51 million people still using

Are you one of the 51 million people still using a TV antenna for reception?

The planned transition of television reception, from analog to digital, has apparently been in the works for years. Not being the technical type, I only became aware of the issue during the last year. I suspect I'm not alone. While the majority of television viewers currently use cable or satellite TV services, there are an astonishing 51 million viewers who use only a TV antenna for their programming. This amounts to about 17% of the population in this country.

It's interesting to note that, according to the government statistics, approximately 16% of the U.S. population now lives on an income that's at, or below the poverty line. This might lead you to the conclusion that there's some relationship between these two statistics. While most of us are able to afford a cable or satellite TV service, there are tens of millions who cannot.

Surely you've been bombarded with ads on local news channels, warning of the February 17th deadline, when the transition from analog to digital goes live. Our government had promised to provide $40 coupons for converter boxes to people who still rely on the TV antenna for their reception, in order to assure that these people could continue to receive television reception, uninterrupted.

However, just a month or so ago, the government ran out of coupon funding. People who had requested a coupon are now on a waiting list. Congress did respond, enacting legislation which would defer the transition from analog to digital to June 12th, so that the millions of people still using a TV antenna while having no converter box, would have time to receive the coupon allowing them to continue to have television reception. Unfortunately, this legislation evidently didn't have the 'teeth' required to prevent television stations from overruling the legislation and instead, going right on with the February 17th blackout for those caught in this converter box bind.

While Congress is aware that this is happening, they don't seem to want to do anything about it. This presents an interesting question. The airwaves, over which television signals travel, belong to the public, not to any individual television station. Nonetheless, some of the network and local stations are proceeding as though that is not the case. Those with only a TV antenna will be blacked out.

So how do these television stations justify their position? They have cited 'engineering costs' as a major reason. When you put this through the double-speak translator, it means that they have contracted to implement this change on February 17th and don't want to reschedule these services, to avoid rescheduling fees. The analog to digital engineering is a fait accomplis. It's not as though the television stations must keep engineers on staff in order to effect the change. It's a sure bet that the transition will be made by contracted engineers, not by employees.

It's hard to see what difference it makes to the television stations, whether the change is effected on February 17th or June 12th.

So who are these millions of people, who will no longer be able to view their TVs, only because they still use a TV antenna? Elderly people on fixed incomes and those unfortunate enough to be poor. Those of us with cable and satellite service will not be affected. However, odds are you know someone who is not so fortunate. We must press Congress to enforce the June 12th legislation.