Obama Signs DTV Delay Act as Many Stations Plan to Ignore It

Amy Schatz covers the FCC. President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday to delay the U.S.’s mandatory switch to digital-only television on June 12 even as hundreds of television stations across the country finalized plans to shut off analog broadcasts on Tuesday, Feb. 17, anyway. “Millions of Americans, including those in our most vulnerable communities, would have been left in the dark if the conversion had gone on as planned, and this solution is an important step forward as we work to get the nation ready for digital TV,” Obama said in a prepared statement. The legislation set a mandatory transition date but also allowed stations to switch off analog signals before then. The president didn’t address an issue that arose Tuesday morning, when regulators realized that almost 40% of local stations nationally are planning to go all-digital by next Tuesday. About 500 stations want to go ahead with the original plan to shut off analog signals on Tuesday, raising concerns that ... (link)