Surely you’ve heard by now about the big digital signal switchover that’s was supposed to be coming in a few days. You know, the one that effectively kills over-the-air broadcasting without the converter box? Well, the Senate voted unanimously yesterday to delay the cutover until June 12, 2009.

I have to ask why. They say that there are “more than 6.2 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals”. Well, I say to them…time’s up. The Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 was enacted on October 20, 2005. As a frame of reference for me, personally, I had no kids then. Now I have three. I’m just sayin’.

Look, I have a DVR, so I hardly ever watch commercials, but I STILL see the stupid ads for this cutover all the time. Our local ABC affiliate has a little 5 second blurb that they run at least once every 30 minutes between their commercials and programming, saying how many days are left until the switchover (and brought to you by the local electronics store, where you can buy the converter box). I saw one just last night that had Pat Sayjak, Vanna White and Alex Trebeck all walking arm in arm talking about the switchover. So if I see them all the time, you can’t tell me that grandma and grandpa haven’t gotten the message yet.

I know the economy is rough right now, but by my count, we’ve had roughly 1,211 days between the signing of the legislation and the deadline. You’ve had plenty of time. And if 3 1/2 years wasn’t long enough for you to take your Rascal scooter out to Wal-Mart to get the magic box that will let you still watch Jeopardy, I don’t think four months is going to make much difference.

But maybe that’s just me.