I remember I always wanted to break my TV when it wouldn’t show a clear image.

Like many college students, I only had four channels; three if it rained and five after 2 a.m. But that all changed four months ago when I got my converter box, afraid that after Feb. 17 all I could see would be darkness.

It was more than a year ago that I was mad that I had to get a TV converter box for my analog TV to receive a digital signal.

After attaching the box to my TV, I waited for it to find channels. Then I was happy to know I had 11 channels. Whether it rained or not, I had them.

I’m glad I acted soon, because now I get to see more programs. But for some people, one year to change into digital television may not have been long enough.

On Monday there was a unanimous vote to postpone the upcoming transition until June 12, according to an ABC News article.

The idea was proposed the first week of January after the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration said its $1.3 billion TV Converter Box Coupon Program budget, from Congress, was out of money.

The Nielsen Co. has estimated that 6.5 million households who own an analog TV have not yet purchased the converter.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said postponing the transition was the right thing to do.

What about broadcasters?

They have invested more than $1 billion in the past several years to promote the transition and make sure. For more than two years people have been preparing and making sure people know that the transition date was Feb. 17.

Paula Kerger, president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, has estimated that the delay will cost public broadcasters $22 million, according to the article.

Postponing the date might give people the chance to once-and-for-all get the converter box, but it might also give people the false impression that the June 12 date would be extended as well.

With the crisis the country is under it will also be costly by forcing the government and industry to add more money into more awareness campaigns and other efforts to reach all citizens.

The delay will also increase the expenses for broadcasters as they will have to continue to broadcast in both analog and digital signal for another four months.

I know there’s nothing we can do about it since the bill passed already and it will be hard to change it back, as it runs the risk of confusing people.

Even though it was a two-year campaign that broadcasters went under, I can understand that with the economic crisis people are not thinking on spending extra money for something that should be free broadcast.

A converter box ranges between $40 and $80, but the TV Converter Box Coupon Program gives $40 coupons for each household.

That’s how I got mine.

Unfortunately the National Telecommunication and Information Administration had nearly 2.6 million coupon requests on hold as of last Wednesday.

Even the Nielsen numbers might not be taking into account the many people that might have already purchased the box but have yet not installed it, as well as those people who had requested the coupons but are waiting for them. There are also people who get satellite TV so they don’t need a converter and will not lose reception.

It was a huge transition broadcasters have had to do since 2005, as the government asked them to switch to digital to free space for commercial wireless services and emergency-response networks.

I believe it was a necessary evil to postpone the date, but it should also be a wake-up call for people who have not gotten their converters yet.

Lozano is a senior print journalism major and editorial editor of The Spectator. “Breaking Boundaries” appears every Thursday.