Chuck Schumer is in a panic – and we can certainly understand why.
New York’s senior senator is terri.ed that, come next February, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers will wake up one morning to discover they can no longer receive a signal on their TV sets.
All over-the-air TV signals are going to become digital-only on Feb. 18. So anyone with an older TV set who doesn’t subscribe to cable or satellite service will need a special converter box to receive a signal.
Now, you probably know this already – given that warning announcements to this effect have been airing for some time; many folks see at least one a day.
But that’s not enough for Schumer: He wants Congress to .nd funding for even more public-service announcements, in order to make absolutely certain that no one, and we mean no one, will have to sit and stare at a blank TV screen.
Is anyone really surprised that Chuck Schumer has decided to seize the reins on this issue?
After all, about the only TV image more frequent than those announcements about the upcoming conversion to digital is – well, Schumer’s Sunday press conferences.
Now, presumably, we can all rest easy: With any luck, and an infusion of federal cash, not a single New yorker will have to miss an episode of “Sunday on the Tube with Chuck.”