Recovering Expired Coupons February 4, 2009

I just noticed that there’s language in the DTV delay bill that allowing the government to reissue one replacement coupon to any household whose initial coupons expired unused.
As I read the legislation, that change wouldn’t take effect until further financial authorization is approved to spend the money necessary to do it. But it’s good [...]

Make that June 12th. February 4, 2009

It’s done. The House of Representatives just passed a bill to delay the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12th. The Senate has already done so. All that remains is the President’s signature, all but guaranteed.
I believe one of the small differences between this bill and the one the House defeated [...]

Must-See C-SPAN February 4, 2009

It may be do-or-die today in the House of Representatives. They’re expected to take up debate on the DTV delay this afternoon. A House committee already defeated a proposal to add more money to the coupon program without moving the date, so it seems the leadership is expecting to succeed this time in [...]

Wow. House Defeats Bill to Move DTV Date. January 28, 2009

The Senate passed their version of the bill to move the DTV transition date, and it seemed like a done deal. But the House of Representatives, with a decisive margin, voted against the bill. So as it stands today, the DTV transition will happen as scheduled at midnight on the evening of February [...]

January’s DTV Test: The Questions January 13, 2009

Lots of questions following yesterday’s DTV test. Here’s a sampling.
Claire writes:
I am a cable subscriber (Broadstripe). When you ran your test Monday evening, two of my televisions showed only the color bars and the scrolling script.
Update: The General Manager of Broadstripe Cable posted to this blog that he expects his [...]

Q & A: More DTV Transition Questions January 5, 2009

Miss BeeBee writes:
I view your news daily and it was stated that the DTV 2009, coupons were never sent to over 2 million customers such as I who has waited from Oct, 12, 2008. How can we who wait with reference numbers get things moving?
If you’ve been waiting since October, you may have [...]

DTV Test Questions, Day 2 December 19, 2008

JT Writes:

My new TV, with both digital (D) and analog (A) tuners will not automatically switch from A to D without me telling it to do so. You should of told viewers that they might need to change from their analog tuners to their digital tuners or turn on their converter boxes. In my [...]

Questions from the DTV Test December 18, 2008

We got lots of calls and questions following our DTV test on Wednesday.  I’ll post some of the Q&A right here.
B in Churchville writes:
WBAL has been promoing a test to occur Dec 17th at 5:45.  The details of the test are not disclosed.  Will this test result in HDTV content being transmitted on the VHF [...]

Testing 1, 10, 11: The Great DTV Test of 2008 December 13, 2008

On Wednesday, December 17, WBAL-TV and other Baltimore stations will conduct a Digital TV test.  This is your chance to test your TV sets to determine if they’re ready for the DTV transition next February.
Here’s how to do it.  Tune into 11 News at 5:00 at 5:45pm next Wednesday.  Turn on any TV you want [...]

Q&A: VHF or UHF? December 8, 2008

Kathy in Baltimore writes:
John, I hooked up the converter box yesterday. I now get channel 2 where I didn’t used to but the signal strength is low. Is there anything I can do to improve it? The picture is good but it flickers and is very annoying.
Hi Kathy,
You’ll probably call me Captain [...]