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EDITORIAL: Botched TV switchover didn't have to be
Jul 03, 2009 (The Wilson Daily Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
How is this modern "opiate of the masses" supposed to work, after all, if all you can get on your screen is either nothing or test patterns.
But, as hard as it is to believe, louse it up the government did.
June's switch over to digital television signal transmission went by without being noticed by most of us who either get cable or satellite TV service.
But for those people who still rely on the old antenna and rabbit ears, this supposedly smooth transition has been full of potholes.
According to DTV Across America, a consumer organization that has followed this issue, an estimated 5 million households are still struggling to get back the stations they used to get before the switch, including many here in Wilson and eastern North Carolina.
The problems range from people who used to get a clear signal to now either getting a fuzzy signal or not getting one at all. Among the solutions they have been told to try are either get a new converter box, for which there is currently a back order, or get a new antenna, which costs money that many of these folks don't have.
One Wilsonian said he was told he might have problems getting the signal if he lived near trees.
The problem is particularly acute in eastern North Carolina because the issue disproportionately affects low-income residents who can't afford cable or satellite service.
Congressman G.K. Butterfield even helped delay the launch date by six months to make sure that there was time to work all of the bugs out of the system.
Clearly, the Federal Communications Commission either did not take the anticipated technical issues seriously or didn't care at all about them.
In doing so, it has left people without access not only to a source of entertainment, but more critically news and information -- such as weather alerts -- as well.
There was no reason to make the switch until the FCC was sure that everyone would be able to continue to receive television service.
The fact that it couldn't do that was reason enough not pull the switch.
They are the public airwaves for a reason.
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