Markey "applauds" DTV delay

After Congress approved the DTV delay bill, longtime pubcasting supporter Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) former chair of the Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee, told Broadcasting & Cable: "I applaud the passage of this necessary legislation. It is unfortunate that Congress had to take additional action on this issue, but the prospect of leaving millions of consumers in the dark was simply unacceptable. This was a foreseeable problem and should have been anticipated and acknowledged by the Bush administration long ago. However, the Bush administration simply left us with insufficient time to make the needed adjustments on a national basis without this short, one-time delay. I commend President Obama for his swift actions on this critical issue." Markey's office pointed out he had expressed his concern over DTV transition funding in 2005.