Posted on 02/09/2006 3:33:18 PM PST by Calpernia
WASHINGTON -- Legislation requiring U.S. broadcasters to abandon their analog spectrum, opening up the "beachfront" spectrum to next-generation wireless services and emergency response agencies, is headed to U.S. President George Bush to be signed into law.
Late Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a large budget reconciliation bill that included a deadline of February 17, 2009, for broadcasters to stop broadcasting analog signals and move to digital television (DTV).
The House approval came after the U.S. Senate in December amended other parts of the House-approved budget reconciliation bill conference report. The final bill includes up to $1.5 billion in funding to provide two $40 vouchers per household to use toward the purchase of digital-to-analog set-top converter boxes. TV owners receiving over-the-air analog signals on older TV sets will need the converter boxes.
The legislation directs the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to begin an auction of the cleared airwaves by January 28, 2008. The High Tech DTV Coalition, made up of 18 IT companies and trade groups, pushed for a DTV transition deadline to free up the spectrum for new services such as mobile broadband, mobile video and WiMax.
Part of the spectrum will also go to help public safety agencies better communicate with each other.
(snip)
What exactly is DTV? I know what WiMax is, but what's DTV?
Here it comes ping
bump
FREE MONEY PING!
So...will my regular old TV still work in 2009 or not?
Un-Freepin' Believable!
nevermind...I missed the part about the converter.
Nothing changes as long as you have cable or satellite.
Just in time for the NEW administration to catch the blame when millions of grannies and people on fixed incomes watch their screens go blank and are told they must pay thousands to watch tv again. Brilliant!
"I've got 13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from"
Not quite true. Lower end cable plans often do not require a converter box.
WOW!
I'm so glad that Congress has solved all out country's problems so they can focus on our TV reception!
Would someone point out the part in the Constitution that allows congress to tell broadcasters HOW they must send out their signals?
Hard to say, but probably. You will most likely need to buy a converter, though.
The sane response to the utterly unoriginal knee-jerk reaction to the spending bill is this: gummint requires, gummint pays, end of discussion!
If your cable company choses to still provide analog cable signal you will be OK, and if they don't they will provide you with some kind of converter box.
If you don't have cable, then you can probably buy a broadcast converter box, but it would probably be half the price of a new TV.
No more rabbit ears.
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