I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but yesterday President-elect Barack Obama asked Congress to postpone the federally mandated switch to all-digital broadcast television, called DTV, scheduled to take place Feb. 17. People with cable, satellite or phone company TV services will continue to receive broadcast stations. But those who rely on antennas must have either a newer TV with a digital receiver or get a converter box. To offset the expense, the federal government allocated $1.5 billion to provide households with up to two $40 coupons. But Monday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration said the program had used all allocated funds. The agency has a waiting list of about 1.1 million requests which means:

The nearly 8 million households that rely on antennas and are unprepared for the conversion face the prospect of paying full price for converter boxes during a recession — or watching their TVs go blank after the switch.

Am I the only one that reads that quote and laughs out loud? Why am I, the taxpayer, paying for a digital receiver box so my neighbor can watch TV? The same neighbor that doesn’t have health care, or a job, or a car. When did it become a right to watch TV in America – to the point that the federal government is paying billions of dollars (yes, billions) to pay for the transition and educate Americans on the switch?

If people want to keep watching TV after the switch then they can a) buy a TV made after 1990 or b) buy a $40 converter box themselves. In my opinion there is absolutely NO reason this should even be a concern of congress or the President. Wasting time and resources on a project like this just tells me that other issues such as Social Security, Health Care, and the Economy must have already been taken care of – otherwise we would be focusing all our efforts on those issues right?