Why the DTV delay is stupid

So I'm converting our blogspot account into my "Jared's Views" area and keep it away from the main area of my blog, so those who don't care don't have to see it unless they see the little link I'm going to put to in in a very indiscriminate place.

The DTV delay just proves once again the biggest pitfall of America, and one in which I succumb to way too often myself. One that I'm succumbing to as I write this. Procrastination. I am a procrastinator. I put things off to the last minute too often. I should be doing homework right now, but my mind thinks about other things and I'll keep thinking about this until I write it down. This will be my point eventually.

Anyway, we've known about a DTV transition for about a decade now. We've had time to upgrade our TV's. But yet, the general public has not been very educated about the transition. One reason is because cable and satellite companies pushed their "Digital Cable" and made it sound like digital cable was what people meant by the transition. I remember that's the impression I got. But then after researching it, I found out that it was for over-the-air broadcasts. 

Then the next thing was all these local channels talking about the transition. The thing they emphasized most was the fact that you need a converter box. So I'm SURE that a TON of these converter box coupons were sent to people who didn't even end up needing them. There was just so much commotion about needing a converter box that people just signed up for the coupons and decided they'd find out later if they needed it. 

This also goes along with the cable companies pushing their digital cable. I bet some people thought that the cable companies were switching to digital too, so they would have to get a converter box because they needed one so they could watch their digital cable. Then the local broadcasters started figuring out that people were confused, and a few months ago (when the coupon program started running out of money) they started emphasizing that it was only people who were getting OVER-THE-AIR broadcasts that would be affected. OOOOHHHHHH...... so there's probably all these people who have HDTV's with built in DTV tuners, who have their HD satellite dishes who decided that the transition is going to affect them too so I should get the coupons. 

But then all the people who actually didn't watch TV (because they don't care that much about TV or don't have time to watch it) started getting the news that if they want to watch TV, they needed to either: upgrade their TV, or get a converter box. Well, since they don't care too much for TV or don't have time for it, they aren't going to upgrade their TV. People who REALLY cared about TV upgraded to HDTV's once they could afford it (or they were one of the first to get converters). But the people who don't care for TV that much didn't do a thing.... until just recently, they figured out "Oh, I won't be getting ANY TV. I don't want to spend the money on a new TV, my 20 year old one works fine. I don't want to spend the money on cable because I don't watch that many shows. So I need a converter box. Oh wait... the coupons are all gone."

So 2 things caused this coupon debacle. 1) Overly zealous, uninformed people who got the coupons who didn't actually NEED them because they either had cable already or a TV with a built in tuner, and 2) Apathetic people who didn't get the message until just barely.

So to reward procrastination is not going to help any. People who need the converter boxes probably more often than not fit into the "apathetic" category. If we push back the deadline for DTV, people are just going to wait until June to get their converter boxes anyway. There are some people who won't even have it when either the Feb. deadline or the June deadline comes. They'll get it when they decide they want to watch TV again. It's just not that high a priority. There are some people where the only motivation to get a converter box will be the blackout. But those are the same people who will throw the tantrum saying they weren't given enough time to switch over, when it was simply them waiting until the last minute to deal with the situation. That's why I think the DTV delay would be stupid.