DTV transition... conspiracy?

What is the significance of February 17th, 2009? I have not been able to find any reasonable explanation for getting rid of og TV. I do, however, know that when og goes obsolete, and a crazy storm or something hits, we wont know what the efff is going on. Is this the government's way of shutting us out from something they dont want us to find out about... or their way of making SURE we all are able to see something. Im having a hard time finding anything about any of this....