I'm with Eric Berne

I recall my dad telling stories about life at the house in Park Ridge.   I surmise that after moving in Vern undertook a long project to remodel an upper room.  My dad spoke glowingly of the craftsmanship, and I found the accounting ledger for the project when I cleared my dad's storage locker.  My dad spoke of an alcove in the room which was a perfect fit for a radio.

I suppose that it was in this room that another story occurred.  My dad spoke of listening to the radio and Vern telling him that someday they would be able to see the performers.  My dad described his imagined notion of looking into the top of the radio and seeing little performers inside.  The first licensed TV station in Illinois was in 1943, and production of TVs was halted until Japan surrendered in 1945, so I surmise this discussion happened before then.

Nevertheless, the NTSC standard for TV broadcasts in the US had been created before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.  That's how old the system is -- our patriarch is barely older.  We're still using it today even though the ATSC family of standards has been around for a while. According to an act of congress 3 years ago NTSC is to cease in 3 weeks, and only ATSC will remain.   Within that act were requirements that all TVs sold during the past 2 years (the past 4 years for big TVs) handle ATSC.

The broadcasters are all ready, and they've been telling the public about this for several years. But the new president has expressed reservations, and the senate is following the lead of their former colleague.   Last week the senate tried to extend the deadline by 4 months, but the house said no.  This week the senate passed another bill to extend the deadline -- sort of.  This bill doesn't require an extension, it allows the broadcasters to decide to extend, if they want.

I find this to be reminiscent of Han Solo's "it's not my fault" line, and of George Lucas retconning history in the Mos Eisley bar on Tattooine.  Let's all remember clearly -- Han Solo fired his blaster first.  Some three years ago congress and the previous president extended the previous deadline and mandated the change to ATSC on 2009-02-17.  Now the current incumbents want to pull a Han Solo.  They want to make any loss of signal by unprepared consumers into the fault of the local TV station.

Wait, I've seen this game even before Han Solo.  Eric Berne wrote about it in Games People Play, the foundation of transactional analysis.  I'm pretty sure it's one or more of the most common games.

It's pretty clear that the president wants to play this game.  I hope congress maintains its resolve and again says "no" instead of spreading the blame.  After all, it's not like the lack of broadcast TV would destabilize civilization, is it?