Signal lost

• The digital TV switchover will likely be postponed for the 35,436,843rd time.

Can anyone explain to me why depriving Ma and Pa Kettle of their 700 Club reruns is a bad thing?

In a letter sent last night to President Bush, President-elect Barack Obama, House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the consumer advocacy group said Congress should push back the transition "until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals."

The request comes two days after the federal government said it has run out of money to provide coupons to help offset the cost of converter boxes. Analog television sets that rely on "rabbit ear" or rooftop antennas to receive broadcasts will need a converter box to get a picture after Feb. 17, when all full-powered television stations will stop airing analog signals and move to digital-only broadcasts.

I personally could care less, but I am a militant TV avoider, so that puts me, as always, in a small and vocal minority.

Anyway, the people who would actually miss out when the switchover happens are the same people that went up to their TVs and hit them, hoping them funny black bars on the top and bottom of the picture would disappear.