Congress approves digital TV delay

The U.S. switch to digital television signals has been delayed for another four months, until June under legislation that cleared Congress on Wednesday and now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature into law.

Obama supports the delay, sharing concerns that 20 million mostly poor, elderly, and rural households were not ready for the congressionally mandated switch.

About 13 million people hold expired $40 coupons the government was providing to offset the costs of converter boxes needed for older televisions, according to Consumers Union. The government ran out of coupons last month and millions of requests for coupons are pending.

Airwaves are to be vacated by television broadcasters after the switch were purchased mostly by AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc in an auction that raised about $19 billion for the U.S. government.

For the most part, only viewers with older sets that receive broadcast analog signals and do not get cable or satellite television must act to prevent their screens from going black after the switch.

Many Republicans opposed the delay, arguing it would create more confusion after years of the government and private industries advertising the February switch, in which millions of dollars had been spent.

FCC Acting Commissioner Michael Copps said earlier this week that the agency had been working on a "plan B" in case the Congress extended the deadline.

The two largest cable companies, Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc., have said they see an opportunity to add new subscribers who in the past might not have taken pay-TV services.

The nation's nearly 1,800 full-power television stations can switch to digital early if they notify the FCC and the public under the bill.

However, most consumers do not have to worry about losing channels, according to a broadcast industry source.

One company actively opposing the delay was Qualcomm Inc, which paid about $550 million to use the vacated spectrum to extend a rollout of its mobile video service. The good news is that consumers will not have to worry about the switch for another 4 months, in June.