Get ready…to wait…again….

Two weeks from today is supposed to be (as of this writing) the cutoff date for all analog TV broadcasts in the US. The switch was mandated by Contress in 1996 and was originally scheduled to happen in 2006. They delayed it a few years to ensure that everyone would be ready for the transition. They did require that all new TVs sold, would have digital tuners in them so that they would be ready for the switch from analog. So any TV made in the last 3 years will be unaffected. Any TV currently hooked up to cable or satellite signals will be unaffect until the mandated switch on their end in 2012. Any TV that isn’t being used to actually watch TV programming is also going to be just fine.

People are now screaming that the transition date needs to be pushed back four more months because people aren’t ready. Millions didn’t get their free coupons from the government to buy converter boxes for their older TVs. They’re demanding free converter boxes so that they can continue to watch TV all day since requiring people to purchase an adaptor for their TV is obviously racist and a discrimination against poor people.

If a $40 converer box is a financial hardship to someone who only gets TV over the air, then they really shouldn’t be watching TV in the first place, especially since there really isn’t much worth watching on network TV most of the time. These people should go out and get a job or do something more productive with their lives. We’re probably the only country in the world where the poorest are complaining about something that could adversely impact their TV viewing habits. Ironically we’re also the only country in the world where the poorer you are the more likely you are to be morbidly obese; in much of the world the poorest citizens are emaciated and on the brink of starvation. People really need something better to do than complain about TV.