Death of Analog Television
May 7th, 2007 2:09 PM | by Christen da Costa | 3 Comments
On February 17, 2009 Analog T.V. will be no more. Due to an FCC mandate on that date all Television stations must be switched over to a digital signal only. This could mean the end of free over the air Television. The legislation for this was passed in 1996, and is now that the due date is getting nearer people are wondering what it means. For the 85% of Americans that receive there signal through a cable or satellite provider there is nothing to worry about, but for the Americans that still receive there signal over the air, there televisions will be obsolete. The FCC has stated that there will be converter boxes for people to purchase so that they can still use their Analog only TVs, but so far very few companies have announced plans to make these and the estimated price is at least $100 for one receiver. Homes can receive up to two $40 coupons from the government to cut on costs for the converters, but only limited contact information has been released so far on how to receive the coupons. Broadcasting channels are being offered tax incentive and grants to help ease the transition in becoming all digital.
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The Swedish digital TV transition is in my opinion the biggest rip-off of the public in the history of TV. Perhaps that is true of the American one, too. Everybody stands to make big bucks, except the ordinary viewer, of course, who gets to pick up the bill. Furthermore, the digital transition effectivley kills free TV, since every single pixel has to go through the (state controlled) system, effectively putting a government control over everything that is broadcast on TV. See link for my post on the subject from 20 September 2005.
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