Washington, DC -  Today, U.S. Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) voted with his Democratic colleagues to pass S. 352 and send the bill to the President’s desk for his signature. Specifically, S. 352 postpones the date of the analog-to-digital television transition from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009. The purpose of the bill is to allow more time to secure coupons for the digital TV converter boxes for the millions of American households that are still on the waiting list.

“There are over 7000 people in my district alone and over 2 million nationwide who are still waiting to obtain coupons, so they can keep their TV's working,” said Rep. Towns. “The federal effort to help people buy converters to prepare for DTV has been insufficient to keep up with the need across the nation, and this one time delay will address this problem.”

Without this delay, millions of Americans may see their televisions “go dark” on February 18, 2009, disproportionately impacting low-income, rural, and elderly Americans. This bill is supported by a broad range of groups, including public safety organizations, civil rights and consumer groups, the National Association of Broadcasters, and wireless providers.

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