Today would have been the day that US analog TV broadcasts shut down in favor of digital, if congress hadn’t passed a last-minute extension to June 12 in hopes of maybe catching a few more stragglers who have been studiously ignoring the constant stream of PSAs for the last two years.

Of course, many stations decided that rather than put the brakes on plans already in place, they’d just bite the bullet and shut down the analog signal today anyway.

Good for them, I say. Sure, there’ll be a segment of the population who won’t see their soap operas today (or more significantly, perhaps, in the case of my market, American Idol tonight*), but really, they’ve had this long already to get onboard, another few months wouldn’t really matter; they’d still ignore the info they’re getting from all corners.

Those who have been given a minor reprieve, however, may not ignore the wailing and gnashing of teeth from their afflicted bretheren who will surely be all over today’s local evening newscasts in man-on-the-street interviews, complaining about their lot in life (and likely not blaming their own procrastination). Being a witness to the suffering of their fellow luddites may force a few stragglers to take action.

It’ll likely make Comcast happy with all the extra business they’ll probably be flushed with as people rush get a cable hookup, but in this case, I’m willing to overlook it in the name of progress.

In any case, I’m going to try to make a point to see exactly what, if anything, is running on the old analog signal today. I’m honestly curious.

* – that should be interesting; Fox 35 may be really shitty about answering emails, but I want to give them credit for pulling the plug before the AI results show; it’s actually kind of brilliant, and might actually allow them to boost the strength of the digital signal in time for Dollhouse this week.