That’s the question lawmakers in Washington D.C. have been wrestling with this week. The official deadline is currently February 17th. That’s the day all stations in the U.S. are required to turn off their analog signal, which will free up that spectrum for use by emergency crews and cell phone companies. But, experts estimate as many as 6.5 million households may not be ready for the transition. That means come February 18th, all those people will see when they flip on the tube is black.

So, there is lots of talk now about moving back the date, to give people more time to get ready for the transition. It would also provide more time to solve some issues with a coupon program set up to help offset the cost of converter boxes that people with older TV sets need in order to watch Digital TV. The fund for those coupons ran out of money earlier this month, which means people are on a waiting list to get their coupons. Once unused coupons expire, that money will be freed up and more coupons can go out. Either way, if you are one of those people waiting on a coupon, there is no way it will get to you before the February 17th deadline.

President Obama has publically endorsed a delay, saying it is the elderly, poor and minorities that are most at risk of not being prepared for the February 17th deadline. And, earlier this week, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a plan to push the deadline back to June 12th. Problem solved, right?

Not so fast! Just today, the U.S. House defeated that plan by a narrow margin. 258 representatives voted in favor of the delay, and 168 voted against, but the measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass. There is still time for an emergency bill to surface, but that will have to be sooner, rather than later if the deadline is to be extended. Otherwise, February 17th it is! This is especially important to understand, because accoding to Nielsen research, New Mexico is the least prepared state in the nation for the transition. To find out more about why that is important, and what you can do to prepare, we recently interviewed a regional supervisor with the Federal Communications Commission, along with a representative from New Mexico Media Literacy Project, which supports a delay.

Whenever the switch happens, we want to make sure you are ready to make the transition. you can head to our DTV page to learn more about applying for coupons, how to install a converter box, and much much more. you can even watch a recent call-in show we aired to help answer specific questions. And the PBS NewsHour also has a great segment up now that explains more, along with an online forum where you can direct your DTV questions directly to PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger.

Good luck to us all! Remember, the good news is DTV means not only better picture and sound quality, it also means more channels of PBS programming!

The Public Affairs Team

This week’s show is all about the legislative session, which got underway this week in Santa Fe. The budget is first and foremost on everyone’s mind in the City Different, just as it was in Governor Richardson’s State of the State Address. For those of you who missed his speech, you can watch it right here in it’s entirety.

Also on the show this week, we talked to some of the legislature’s newest members. Unfortunately we ran out of time to air all of those interviews in the show. But, not to worry, that’s what this blog is for. Here’s David Alire Garcia’s conversation with new Representatives Brian Egolf (D) and Karen Gianinni (D).

On THE LINE this week, we were thrilled to be joined by some great friends to the show, Lorene Mills, host of Report from Santa Fe (which you can see most Sunday mornings at 6am on KNME), and former state Representative and Senator Pauline Eisenstadt. Pauline had a great observation about this week’s State of the State address, which she didn’t have time to delve into on the show:

An incident after Governor Richardson’s speech was ironic for me. There was a list of dignitaries that had been forgotten to be introduced before the speech and were introduced afterward. They included formers Lts. Governor, Secretaries of State and former Speakers of the House. I knew and served with almost all of them.

To me, it demonstrates that the “command of the public official” is temporary and them we move aside, to make room for the next leaders to take charge. In a democracy, that’s the way it should be!

Something to think about on this end of one heckuva historic week!

In case you missed any of this week’s show, not to worry! Watch it all in its entirety, here:

As always, thanks for watching!!

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM