DTV is on the way! Scouts Honor!

I'm in Texas but Broadcasting and Cable has blown my mind already and I've been up since 3am:

How far has the federal campaign for the digital-TV transition gone? The National Telecommunications and Information Administration considered deploying the Boy Scouts of America to help inform over-the-air analog TV viewers that they could lose their TV picture at 12:01 a.m. Feb. 18, 2009, just one year from today, unless they get a converter box, a new TV, or are already hooked up to cable or satellite.

Excuse me? The Boy Scouts? Are we talking the gay-excluding, yet slightly...questionable group where boys gather in groups under adult leaders to...tie knots in the woods? I know their motto is "be prepared" but don't we have better people to tackle this problem?

Converter-box retailers held talks with Boy Scout organizations about coming up with a DTV-transition merit badge for helping some older ladies and gentlemen cross the digital divide, although the plan may be scrapped over concerns about sending scouts into strangers' homes. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission is talking to the Meals on Wheels Association of America about delivering DTV education along with food.

We've been reduced to boy scouts and meals on wheels a year out? Come one! Where are those hearings?