Plan to delay U.S. switch to digital TV thwarted by Republicans

An attempt to delay the U.S. switch to digital-only television transmission by four months has been scuttled by the House of Representatives.

House Republicans voted down a bill on Wednesday that would have postponed the latest date for the transition to digital broadcasting from analog until June 12. The changeover is set for Feb. 17.

The Senate had unanimously approved the plan just two days earlier, after reaching a deal that would guarantee no further delays.

The majority of House members voted 258-168 in favour of the bill, but it required two-thirds support to pass.

"In my opinion, we could do nothing worse than to delay this transition date," said Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House commerce committee. "The bill is a solution looking for a problem that exists mostly in the mind of the Obama administration."

Republicans oppose the delay because they say it would confuse consumers, burden wireless companies and would create added costs for broadcasters. President Barack Obama, Senate Democrats, and consumer advocates have said the delay is necessary to accommodate people who are unprepared.

To receive digital signals, viewers with analog television sets have to install converter boxes that retail for between $50 and $70 US. The push for the delay comes after the federal program that provides coupons to defray the cost of converter boxes ran up against a $1.34-billion US funding limit this month.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the body responsible for distributing the coupons, is now only sending them out as old ones pass a 90-day expiration date. There are an estimated 2.5 million people still on the waiting list for the coupons.

The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that lack digital converter boxes and rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals could see their TV sets go dark next month.

But Jonathan Collegio, vice-president for the digital television transition for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), told the Associated Press that the Nielsen numbers may overstate the number of viewers who are not ready for the digital transition.

He noted that the numbers exclude consumers who have already purchased a converter box but not yet installed it, as well as those who have requested coupons but not yet received them.