Congress Approves DTV Switchover Delay; Bill Heads To President

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress has now decided to give people four more months to prepare for the upcoming transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting.
   
The House voted Wednesday to postpone the end of analog TV signals until June 12. The move is meant to address concerns that more than 6.5 million Americans with older TVs would not be ready by Feb. 17, the originally mandated deadline.
   
The House took up the question last week but under a special procedure that required more than a simple majority. This time it went through a normal vote.
   
The Senate passed the measure unanimously last week and the bill now heads to President Barack Obama for his signature. Obama’s spokesman has said the president will sign it.

According to Nielsen, 6.69% of homes in our market—stretching from Mitchell County, N.C. to Greenwood, S.C. are unprepared as of Jan. 2009.

News Channel 7 serves more than 800,000 households, which means more than 50,000 viewers in the Upstate and Western North Carolina are unprepared for the switch.

News Channel 7 management says the station will wait until the bill is signed into law before announcing their plans for the delay.