Here we go again: The House of Representatives today halted plans to postpone the national switch from analog to digital television broadcasts. On Monday the Senate passed a bill that would have moved the changeover from February 17 to June 12 (click here for more details). Today the majority of the house voted in favor of pushing the date back (258 vote in favor, 168 against) but the measure needed two-thirds of the House to pass, and as such, was defeated.

USA Today quotes the AP as saying that some lawmakers feared that moving the deadline back would just create even more confusion in an already confusing process, and was concerned that the pushback would cost some TV stations beaucoup bucks since many of their broadcast tower contracts were due to expire on or around the February deadline. (I had previously read that PBS was especially irked at the delay, claiming that it was looking at millions in unexpected broadcast fees.)

We'll see what happens now, but apparently the Obama administration is none too happy about the botched delay, since the Bush administration reportedly had done a terrible job getting the country prepared for the technical requirements of the switchover. Gee, the Bush administration failing our nation. What a concept.