This will be when the riots start.

[Booster]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. regulators are unprepared for an expected surge in demand for government help from consumers needing to switch their television sets from analog to digital, a government report said on Tuesday.

Congress ordered the switch, to go into effect next February, to free public airwaves for emergency uses, such as for police and fire departments.

Regulators are offering consumers $40 coupons to help pay for converter boxes, but have no plan to manage an anticipated last-minute frenzy of consumer demand, a congressional watchdog group said.

http://news.yahoo.com/story//nm/20080916/media_nm/digitaltv_dc

[jtrockville]

1. You got THAT right.

I want my
I want my
I want my MTV

/disgust

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Sadly, you are probably right. Nothing that has happend so far has brought out the fire and

pitchforks...but this just might do it.



http://vwt.d2g.com:8081/vwt.jpg

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. No TV here...

No plan or desire to get one.

I'll watch the riots from my deck. ;-)

[JCMach1]

4. nah, will be the 2012 Great Beer Riots

when President Sarah Palin and her newly installed Republican Congress bring back Prohibition.

[FatDave]

25. Long as they don't outlaw hops, barley malt and yeast...

I'll manage.

[Middle finga]

5. Yeah I imagine that would get people in the streets, when you

take away their American Idol and NFL football games

[Aqaba]

6. Hahaha

This has been a topic of grave concern in my repuke dominated office.

They start talking about it with that tone in their voice, and I just tell 'em "The only TV I watch is sometimes HBO on the weekends and some football on my cable.

Massive government HATE incoming in February, and of course, Hannity will kindly direct them to point it at Obama and Clinton.

[Mind_your_head]

7. Feb. 17, 2009

FREEDOM FROM TEEVEE!

I can think my OWN thoughts, w/o the 'pretty people' trying to 'teach'/lend me their "misguided"? thoughts.

:party:

[evlbstrd]

8. Wilmington, NC already switched.

It was a test case. Now, this community was flooded with information on the switch.

Wilmington DTV Test Portends Feb. Crisis

By Harry A Jessell
TVNEWSDAY, Sep 12 2008, 2:03 PM ET
From the numbers coming out of Wilmington, N.C., this week, I'm figuring that about 5 percent of the homes that rely on off-air reception for some or all of their TV were either unaware or unprepared for the market's early DTV switch.
am now going to assume that the good people of Wilmington are the same as Americans everywhere — just as technically savvy, just as tuned in to what's going on in the world and just as prone to put things off to the last minute.
<snip>
If that is the case, then we should expect that at least 1.7 million homes will be at a loss on the morning of Feb. 18, 2009, the morning after every full-power TV station as a matter of law must turn off its analog transmitter.

According to the NAB, 34.2 million of the 113 million homes in the nation still get TV via antennas on at least one set. Five percent of 34.2 million is 1.7 million.

But that, I think, is the best-case scenario.

No other market will get the same kind of attention that Wilmington has received. Neither the FCC nor the NAB has the resources to mount anywhere near the same kind of campaign in the other 209 TV markets as they did in Wilmington.

So, I'm thinking that the actual percentage of homes left behind will be around 10 percent and the actual number will be 3.4 million.

http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/09/12/daily.3/

[Booster]

12. I have a feeling you're about on target. Most of us have moved

on to cable with plasma/lcd tv's, but there's a shitload of people who haven't and their eyes glaze over when you bring it up. They don't know what the Hell you're talking about, and there's a whole lot of people who just hate change no matter what it is, especially if what they're getting now is free. People are going to be pissed and say "I didn't know".

[undergroundpanther]

9. I watch

animal planet,sci fi,history,weather,comedy central and sometimes PBS,and that is not all that often.oh and I do watch msnbc, for Kieth Olbermann. 99% of what's on TV sucks anyway.

[DCKit]

10. If you have cable, it doesn't matter.

The switch only affects the local, over the air broadcasts.

[spag68]

11. TV

You should add G channel to your list. Living with Ed is a riot, and actually contains good info. Some very interesting stuff there.

[underseasurveyor]

13. OMG NO TEEVEE?

Oh shit wouldn't that be ironic if that's what finally woke up the sheeple and that's how 'they' finally got their first clue something is amiss in America?
By NOT having tv:spray:
:rofl:

[vanderBeth]

14. Oh noes!

You got to be kidding me. Besides, they've been showing commercials since the end of 2007 here about the conversion. You've had about a year and half (and $40) to do something.

[elocs]

15. Here in Wisconsin for the past year the only thing that I have seen more than political ads

have been public service announcements on every channel, all the time about the switch to digitial next February and the need for people to get a converter box if they do not already have HDTV. Yet come next year there will be those who will cry, "I had no idea that they were going to switch." This does only affect those who get their channels over the air and it will really suck to have to get a converter box when it will only likely double the number of channels you get.

I ditched cable and satellite years ago and I use an antenna to get my channels on my HDTV. Previous with over the air I could get 5 channels, now I get 12. Yep, digital is a real bummer.

[PVnRT]

24. Yep

Same everywhere else - there are CONSTANT reminders about this, and they've been doing it all year. Anyone who doesn't know this is coming is either ignorant or doesn't own a television anyway.

[AndyTiedye]

16. How Are They Going to Catapult the Propaganda Without TV?

This could be a serious problem for the Repiglickins.

Many of those rural fringe areas that are so solidly Repiggie will be losing all television reception.
Cable doesn't go out that far, many out there cannot afford satellite TV, and you need a reasonably
strong signal for digital TV, something that is even less likely on the shorter-range UHF frequencies
that are used for digital.

[Marr]

17. Nobody worries about 100,000 screaming angry couch potatoes.

What are they gonna do? Go on a 10 minute protest walk?

[The Hope Mobile]

18. LOL

:rofl:

[intheflow]

19. John Lennon said,

"If everyone demanded peace instead of just another television set, there'd be peace." I think you're right on the money. :(

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

28. I've always said tha tif you get all those asholes that

camp out outside of stores when a ne gadget comes out and the ones who camp out for days when a new movie comes out to protest in Washington Bush would be behind bars by now.

[lostnotforgotten]

20. This Could Be A Good Thing As All Those Bubbas Suddenly Have To Think For Themselves

eom

[CTD]

21. If people riot over their idiot boxes, then we'll know that "they" have won

"They" (the vast corporate world of consumerism - selling us things we don't need or sometimes even want) will have won not just the battle but the war.

Thinking, reasoned minds will have lost.

[flamingpie2500]

22. so if i buy an hdtv do i still need a convertor box?

i have dish but use antenna for local stations. guess i better get with the times.

[Occulus]

26. No

If you already have an HDTV, all you'll have to get is a digital version of the same box you use now, and your provider will inform you of when they intend to exchange the equipment.

One problem: your new digital box will probably cost a bit more per month than the one you use now. If things happen the way I think they will, the price on this new box (which you are mandated to use, or lose service) could be high enough per month that you won't be able to afford your current service tier, and still have the digital box.

A recent Kos diary detailed how Comcast has moved MSNBC to their digital tier, in an apparent attempt to squelch the voices of Olbermann and Maddow etc. They claim is isn't part of a higher service tier, but the box costs more (that, from someone from the company who apparently emailed the Kos diarist regarding their post).

Come February, all the 'best' programming (you know, the stuff people actually like to watch and is popular) will likely have already been moved to the 'digital tier'. Expect your provider to try to cash in on this switch.

Those of you saying that you will just use over-air HD signals will be in for a nasty surprise when storms get bad enough to degrade your signal to the point that there's no picture (I've seen that exact thing happen in a light drizzle over at my mom's house). HD signals are a do-or-die proposition; there's no such thing as a "fuzzy picture". You either get the picture, clear as a bell, or not at all.

More than anything, this HD switchover has had the stench of a corporate giveaway from the start.

[Solly Mack]

23. Oman. That is so sad

Because it's so entirely possible

[OnyxCollie]

27. That will be when the next false flag attack occurs.

Television was the primary source for information on 9/11.