RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with a delay for digital TV.
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MONTAGNE: Just three weeks before the big switch to digital broadcasting, Senate lawmakers have passed a bill that would delay that transition by four months. If House lawmakers also pass the bill, households would have the extra time to prepare for the shift. That means they can have cable installed, or buy a digital TV, or buy a converter box that allows old-fashioned analog TV to receive the new digital signals.
The government mandated the all-digital TV, both to give public-safety officials more room on the airways and to improve viewing quality, but concern has been growing in Congress that many households are not ready for the February 17th transition date - particularly the poor, the elderly and rural families.