Washington, DC – Senator Jay Rockefeller successfully fought in Congress to delay the end date for the digital television transition (DTV) from February 17th, 2009 to June 12th, 2009.  Rockefeller pushed to extend the transition deadline, giving the nation and the Obama administration time to make sure no American is left in the dark. Unfortunately, many broadcast television stations are opting to go forward on February 17th anyway, even though millions of American homes remain unprepared for the DTV transition, and the coupon program designed to prepare consumers for the digital switch is not working well.

 

Senator Rockefeller is concerned about the impact on West Virginia consumers and issued the following statement to those who may have questions about how this affects them and what they need to do to prepare:

 

“Despite the DTV transition delay passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, a number of West Virginia television stations are moving forward next week. I have urged them to take advantage of the June 12th delay in communities to protect consumers – who through no fault of their own --are not prepared for the switch,” Rockefeller said. “I hope broadcasters will join in the effort to make sure that no family loses access to important news and public safety information that comes over the television.”  

 

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