DTV Delay

February 17, 2009 was supposed to be one of the biggest, most eventful, and probably most chaotic days in the history of broadcast television in the United States. that was the much-publicized date that analog broadcasts would end, forever, and be replaced with digital broadcasts. Millions of Americans with analog TVs and set-top or rooftop antennas would suddenly be without television.

But Congress is very close to pushing to official end of analog TV back to June 12. The reason is that the federal government's program to give financial help to persons needing converter boxes to keep their TVs operating has run out of money. This Los Angeles Times story fills in some details about the likely delay to June.

Questions discussed by the class...

•Who wins with this delay? Who loses?
•Is it important that poor or elderly people have access to television?
•Is TV destined to be replaced by Internet video, anyway?