That request by Obama to delay the analog shutdown date is a bad idea.
1 - The TV stations, and the government have been running an extensive publicity campaign about the transition date. People have had plenty of time to arrange their situation. If they haven't acted on it by now, it's fair to say that they probably won't act on it with an extension.
2 - If they ran out of money to issue more coupons, this is just a bad oversight on the part of the government. They should have offered only 1 coupon per household not 2. If you can afford to have 2 TV's in your home, you can afford to spend $40 out of your pocket for a converter box. A single coupon per home would have done the job, and would have allowed at least minimum access to DTV broadcasts. Now, it's too late. If coupons issued are not used, and expire, then that money can still be used to reissue more coupons. But, this time they should send only 1 coupon per house. Besides, if you can't afford to spend $40 on a converter box, I doubt very much that TV is the top item on your mind.
3 - Delaying the Analog cut off will hurt OTA stations. At present, most or all of them are running two transmitters. The Analog transmitters are electricity hogs. So, it's really best that the February 17th cut off date is respected.
4 - Some stations and markets have already shutdown their analog transmitters before February 17th. Just this past week, Jan. 11, Maine PBS shutdown all their analog transmitters, and are only on air in digital. On Jan. 15, the analog shutdown happens in Hawaii. That is a couple of days from now. There is a market in North Carolina that shutdown analog back in September 2007. The shutdown is on the way, and any delays will only make a mess of the thing.
5 - The channel spectrum for Channels 52-69 have probably already been auctioned off for other uses. Any delays will probably effect new services, and thus cost money to companies that got some of those frequencies for other use.
No extensions, no delays. The sooner the analog shutdown happens, the sooner people that haven't purchased a converter box will do so if TV is that important to them. If TV is not important to them, then they'll never act on getting a converter box anyway. Why hold up the transition for such people. BTW, TV is a luxury. TV is not a right. The coupons are a nice gesture on the part of the US government. They didn't really have to offer them. Buying a $40 converter box to get years of free over the air TV is not a make or break situation. You all know how fast $40 can be spent on other useless items.