"I'm concerned," began a genuinely concerned looking United States Senator Clara McCaskill during yesterday's Senate hearing on the DTV transition. "As of fairly recent data from Nielsen and the broadcasters, one in five Missourians is getting over the air signal right now."

That means that after February 17th, 2009, their "over the air"—or analog—signals will no longer work in a 100 percent digital broadcasting environment.

"This scares me. Politically," the Democrat from Missouri continued. "I mean, there is no anger that comes close to the anger of an American who can't get television. And I know who they're going to blame. They're not going to call you. They're going to call me. And they're going to be mad."

McCaskill was talking to John Kneuer of the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA), the government agency that, in tandem with the Federal Communications Commission, is supposed to educate consumers about the big change, especially low income, elderly, and rural Americans.

The NTIA's plan, Kneuer told the Senate Commerce Committee, is to start offering $40 dollar coupons to eligible consumers, good for a box that will allow their old analog set to receive digital data and convert it back to an analog signal. The government should start handing out those coupons at the start of 2008, he promised.

But the committee's chair, Daniel Inouye, quickly moved the conversation to the amount of money allocated to let consumers know about the program.

"We have provided five million dollars on the education program on the transition," Inouye began. "On the other hand the British have provided 400 million dollars for similar education with a smaller population. Do you think five million dollars is adequate?"

Kneuer conceded that the sum was a "limited pool of money," but promised that the private sector would kick in support for getting the word out.

"The vast majority of public education would be performed by those industries that have an interest in this transition—the broadcasters, the cable industries, the consumer electronics industries," he assured the senators.

They were not assured, to put it mildly, especially since no industry representatives had bothered to come to yesterdays' hearing.

Upon further questioning, neither Kneuer or a representative from the FCC could tell the committee:

• How many Americans actually don't have digital TV now. Although the going estimate is about 21 million, that figure is three years old.
• When the industries will begin their education campaign.
• How much money they will spend on the education campaign.
• Whether the converter boxes that the NTIA and FCC will offer with coupons have been tested for reliability.

And if the senators weren't convinced, neither were representatives from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and the Public Policy Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Nelda Barnett of the AARP warned that it isn't enough to educate the elderly that they need to do something about their old rabbit ears box.

"It may be difficult if not impossible for many elderly people to leave their homes to purchase a converter box," Barnett told the nervous senators, who listened to her with the word "duh" fixed on their lips.

At the end of her time, McCaskill put a brave face on the situation.

"Thank you Mr. Chairman," she told Kneuer. "I appreciate it very much. I will warn you that when people start calling in, I'm giving them your number."