• Wired, Tuesday, February 24, 2009 9:15 AM

America's transition to over-the-air digital television signals netted the government $19 billion in a wireless spectrum auction. But the transition was doomed by a flawed voucher program and a time frame that left the country stranded between administrations.

The voucher program, which will cost taxpayers $1.99 billion instead of $1.34 billion, could not keep up with demand. Yet awareness was not the problem. Only 25,000 people called the FCC help centers on February 18, when 421 television stations stopped broadcasting analog signals, per the National Association of Broadcasters. "Findings from local stations, coupled with the FCC data, showed most TV households affected in those markets were ready," says NAB vice president Jonathan Collegio.

The decision to delay the transition will cost taxpayers an extra $650 million, and that doesn't count other costs. Stations have to pay an average of $40,000 to keep broadcasting in analog longer and companies paid for spectrum they were supposed to get four months earlier.

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