TVSquad

Chalk this up to one of those items that got lost amidst all of the other crap that goes on in Congress. Last week, in a vote of 357-72, members of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's plan to eliminate the $420 million dollar subsidy the federal government pays for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The CPB was created by Congress back in 1967 to shield public broadcasting from political influence. The funds they receive are distributed between PBS and local public television stations as well as National Public Radio and its affiliates. Funding for the CPB has been a point of contention in Congress over the last few years. Two years ago Republicans attempted but failed to slash the public broadcasting subsidies (Not a jab at Republicans here; just stating facts).

Folks, I hope that you're working on either buying a new digital television or are at least considering purchasing a box to convert your TV signals to digital, because the deadline for transitioning to this new technology is nearing and Congress isn't changing its mind. According to lawmakers in the House of Representatives, February 19, 2009 is still the deadline for the complete transition to digital TV. And, since it's coming from the United States government you know that it's for real!