Arlington’s Joe Barton led the effort to defeat the bill that would have delayed the broadcast television switchover from analog to digital. If the second half of that sentence made no sense to you, that’s one of the reasons Democrats tried to push the switchover date back. The DMN says (in the print version, not the AP-version online) Dallas is ahead of only Albuquerque when it comes to preparedness and behind the other 54 markets Nielsen Media monitors. An estimated 6.5 million people in the country have no idea about the switchover, let alone what to do about it. Also, the coupons for the boxes are all gone.
I heretofore blithely ignored all news about DTV, being a satellite customer and all. But then I remembered my rabbit-eared set in the garage, which means I’ll need to get a converter box sometime in the next 10 months. Thanksgiving is the only time the thing gets turned on, as turkey frying and football watching have become a McGill tradition.
Update: Wick and I just coffee klatched. I told him about the defeat of the digital delay and how Dallas isn’t ready. “But Joe Barton went ahead with it?” Wick pointed out in the form of a question. Yep. Maybe he’s showing his constituents tough love. Or maybe he got a fancy converter box himself and can’t wait to put it to use. Or maybe there’s some other, more cynical reason out there.
