Posted on 02/18/2005 1:57:47 PM PST by tang-soo
Posted on Fri, Feb. 18, 2005
Digital TV costs could be a problem
By Genaro C. Armas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers eager to speed the transition to digital television said yesterday that the government might need to help millions of low-income Americans keep their analog TVs working.
There are 21 million homes, or 19 percent of U.S. households, receiving their TV signals using over-the-air antennas, which would be useless by the end of 2006 -- the date Congress would like the digital shift to be complete -- without a converter box.
Digital broadcasts offer sharper pictures than traditional analog transmissions used in most TV sets. A digital broadcaster can transmit high-definition images. It could also offer multiple channels.
The December 2006 date isn't firm; it could be pushed back until 85 percent of homes in a market can get digital TV. Nationally, only 12 percent of homes have digital sets, says the Consumer Electronics Association.
Two leading House Energy and Commerce Committee members -- Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the chairman, and Fred Upton, R-Mich. -- said they might introduce legislation that would eliminate the 85 percent provision in order to speed the transition.
But to do that, Barton, Upton and other lawmakers said Congress might have to ensure that people who use analog TVs with antennas can still use their sets.
Nearly half of the 21 million homes that get antenna TV reception have incomes of less than $30,000, according to the Government Accountability Office. At a hearing yesterday, witnesses said that a converter box could cost up to $100.
I'm not buying one. Who cares if you can see the sweat dripping from the pitcher's face?
Who needs tv when you got radio?
Why the hell is this the business of government? If broadcasters want to target analog home viewers, let them. If they want to broadcast in digital, they can do that instead. Life's full of risks. It's the nature of the free market.
the government might need to help millions of low-income Americans keep their analog TVs working.
Yeah, without television they might get off the couch and stop being “low-income Americans.”
Are not the current satellite boxes(DirecTV/Dish) basically digital receivers that covert into analog?
Yes... BUT the government is about to make an entire class of consumer devices essentially defunct because of the law/regulation requiring broadcasters to switch to digital formats. It is similar to a "taking" of private property. My only problem with this is that it ought to be available to anyone with an analog TV, not restricted on income, if they're going to do it.
I don't disagree. The mandate that old BW tvs still work with the beginning of color broadcast during the 1960s come to mind.
WTF do they have to be "eager" about?
I suppose without the help of our benevolent "lawmakers," we'd all be listening to crackling crystal sets with earplugs in our attics.
Just shoot me already.
Only 12 percent of homes have digital sets - that should be a clue as to the market for digital tv. But apparently, the market is irrelevant.
Gov't has figured out a way to reduce television viewing in the U.S. - an unintended consequence of gov't meddling in what should be settled in the market place.
When our big ol' TV won't pick up anything any more, oh, well ... too bad, so sad. Maybe we can still use it for videos. (VHS of course ;-))
I am already eyeing that space for a piano.
ann
The 'master plan' is to move all broadcast stations up to the UHF band and then re-allocate / the lower VHF channels.
The problem has always been that not only is the reception distance less (around a third) and almost every rooftop antenna is obsolete. It's the nasty secret they were hoping wouldn't be a problem because we would all rush out and buy the great new HDTVs, and the cable companys would solve the transmission issues... neither has happened.
Right now I keep a 5 inch model for power outages to catch the radar from local stations; what will a digital similar model cost when the broadcasts go digital across the board?
Deeper in the article I read in print, it mentions that the government wants to reclaim the analog wavelengths for their own use and/or to sell them to communications companies.
There was a time when only 12% had TVs. The rest of us considered them too expensive.
More recently, only 12% had color TVs. The rest of us considered them too expensive.
Yet, here we are.
It should be left to the market to decide. I don't know why the gov't is so gung-ho about it. I can only guess it wants to kill analog TV in order to use that part of the communications spectrum for something else.
No such provision is in the law as it stands.
Inertia is the cause of many a collapse of both ideals and nations.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.