diff --git a/debian/tvheadend.default b/debian/tvheadend.default
index 29b6dbef..4617c07b 100644
--- a/debian/tvheadend.default
+++ b/debian/tvheadend.default
@@ -47,10 +47,6 @@ TVH_HTSP_PORT=""
 #   if set to 1 will output debug to syslog
 TVH_DEBUG=0
 
-# TVH_DELAY
-#   if set startup will be delayed N seconds to allow hardware init
-TVH_DELAY=""
-
 # TVH_ARGS
 #   add any other arguments
 TVH_ARGS=""
diff --git a/debian/tvheadend.init b/debian/tvheadend.init
index 0996cbaa..73da2ea7 100644
--- a/debian/tvheadend.init
+++ b/debian/tvheadend.init
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ do_stop()
 case "$1" in
   start)
 	[ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
-	[ ! -z "$TVH_DELAY" ] && sleep $TVH_DELAY
 	do_start
 	case "$?" in
 		0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
diff --git a/debian/tvheadend.upstart b/debian/tvheadend.upstart
index a5d70404..b8ae26e1 100644
--- a/debian/tvheadend.upstart
+++ b/debian/tvheadend.upstart
@@ -28,7 +28,5 @@ script
   [ -z "$TVH_HTSP_PORT" ] || ARGS="$ARGS --htsp_port $TVH_HTSP_PORT"
   [ "$TVH_DEBUG" = "1"  ] && ARGS="$ARGS -s"
 
-  [ ! -z "$TVH_DELAY" ] && sleep $TVH_DELAY
-
   exec tvheadend $ARGS $TVH_ARGS
 end script