The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce committee appointed to oversee the delay of the nationwide digital transition has decided to take things slow, and started by postponing the meeting on the Digital Television Transition Extension Act of 2009.

 

Chairman Henry A. Waxman released a statement, saying the transition to digital television is not going well, as the money for the converter box coupon program is now short and millions of Americans could experience serious problems.

 

He also added: Delay of the deadline is our only hope of lessening the impact of millions of consumers. Without a short, one-time extension, millions of households will lose all television reception. Late last week Senate Republicans blocked a bill to delay the transition date. I have postponed Committee consideration of the DTV markup to give the Committee more time to assess the implications of the Senate action.

 

The meeting was initially scheduled to take place on January 21st, when the committee was supposed to discuss the DTV transition, and the delay of the initial transition date from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009.

 

The decision to push the DTV transition to June 12 is seen by many Republicans and analysts as ineffective, as there would still be people who are not prepared for the switch, and it wouldn't really make a difference.

 

Recent reports have shown that while approximately 1 million Americans are still on the waiting list to benefit from the $40 coupons for the digital converters, 7 millions more would be deprived of TV signal if the transition would take place in mid-February.