What The Hell Is Up With That?

So the television signals are going to switch. There’s nothing you can do about.., accept comply. There’s no way around it.., accept to comply. You could be on your last dollar and the only thing that brings you enjoyment is that little flickering box in the corner of your living room - sorry you still need to comply. Yup we’re in a digital age and everyone has to play the game. No ands, ifs or buts - just lost TV signal if you don’t comply.

If you're TV looks like this - you're gonna be out of luck.

I was reading on the New York Times Web-site that millions are still unprepared for the switch from analog to digital, and the hardest hit will be lower-income families, the elderly, the handicapped and homes where little or no English is spoken. Sounds like a big stink bomb, right?

Well let me be a hard ass for a second and say, we’ve all known about this transition for years. The government spent over 2 billion trying to ease the burden for people, the cable companies have spent even more making sure their customers don’t see any difference with their service. So am I supposed to feel bad? I don’t. I have to say I, like the next guy don’t liked to be forced to do anything I don’t want to do, and spending money fixing something that is working fine… well that fall under that category. But the switch was supposed to happen in February of this year and so many people were ill-prepared so they moved the deadline again to June 12th. You got a 4 month extension that’s great, no you need to comply - sorry.

Again I don’t like these sorts of things anymore than the next guy, but it is what it is. Technology is growing with leaps and bounds and we need to keep up with the changes. I had to get a new cell phone when everything went from analog to digital - I didn’t like it, but I had to comply. As I recall my Cell provider US CELLULAR afforded me deals that made the transition easier so I took advantage of them. They were being forced to switch so they worked with the customer to get them to switch - pretty easy.

But here we are looking down the gun barrel of a change and millions are still not prepared. Always fearing political blow back, President Obama issued a statement on Thursday urging consumers to take steps so they do not lose the option of watching So you Think yo can Dance (well he just said television). “We have worked hand in hand with state and local officials, broadcasters and community groups to educate and assist millions of Americans with the transition,” Mr. Obama said. “I want to be clear: there will not be another delay,” the statement added. I defend that, I feel that this entire switch over has been crazy long and should have been done in February and those that hadn’t complied by then would have been forced tho act and the problems would have all been resolve by now. Instead next week million of TV’s will go dark and the procrastinators with be left asking WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at 6:56 am and is filed under Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.