They've been kicking it around for years, but the House of Representatives has
finally (and barely) approved a budget legislation that requires all broadcasters to get rid of their analog signals
and switch to a digital format by February 17, 2009. The new legislation also results in "modest cuts to Medicaid,
Medicare and student-loan subsidies and adds $10 billion in new revenue from auctioning television airwaves to the
highest bidder."
The transfer to DTV will allow broadcasters to have one of two channels in HDTV or several channels in standard definition. Broadcasters are being told to ditch their frequencies this year, or when digital TV reaches eighty-five percent. In addition, congress will be setting up a program in which a family may be eligible for up to $80 to convert their sets to digital.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-01-2006 @ 4:39PM
Mark said...
It's too bad that broadcasters don't pay much attention to the difference between hi-def TV and either analog or digital. I live in Boston, and my local NBC affiliate, Channel 7, WHDH, broadcasts in both analog and digital. I recently bought a hi-def set, big screen, rather expensive........ needed a new one, and knew everything was going to be going digital and hi-def in the future. The problem is, that WHDH Boston broadcasts their ridiculous logo (a "7" in a circle, VERY bright white) constantly during their news broadcasts.. that within two days it was "burned" in to my screen. Now I'm stuck. The warranty doesn't cover it, and WHDH couldn't care less.
Watch out.
Mark
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