Posted on 02/02/2006 11:01:53 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
US analogue TV switch-off in 2009
The US Congress has approved plans to force broadcasters to switch off their analogue television signals by 2009.
Setting a date of 17 February 2009 was called a "great technical revolution" by Republican politician Joe Barton, a main advocate for the change.
Congress has allocated $1.5bn (£844m) to ensure Americans can convert their TV sets to receive digital signals.
The analogue television switch-off in the UK is set to take place gradually from 2008-2012.
The US measures, which were part of budget legislation, were passed in December, but Democrats in the Senate forced technical changes to the bill.
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Moves to bring about the end of analogue broadcasting in the US have been under way for years.
Under existing law, broadcasters would be required to cease analogue transmissions when digital TV reaches 85% of the population, but this is a threshold which is not expected to be reached.
About 16% of US viewers rely on over-the-air transmissions, while more TV sets use only an aerial to watch TV programmes.
Under the new digital conversion programme, each family will be entitled to $80 (£45) towards the cost of a set-top box.
In the UK, BBC Two is to become the first station to go fully digital ahead of a full switch-off of analogue signals.
More than 60% of households already watch digital TV, while government help has been pledged for those aged over 75 and with disabilities towards the cost of conversion.
Couldn't care less, I have DirecTV :)
You're supposed to stop camping. You might step on a caterpillar or sumpin.
In most areas, DirecTV gives you a dish and four room setup free with installation when you agree to use the service for a year or two.
Works with any set now. Will work with any set in the future as they do not wish to lose any customers.
If you want HDTV, then that is $9.99 per month extra and requires a different receiver for an extra charge (unless you are a new customer then it is free). Not very good unless you have a television that is HDTV. NOTE: After you have gotten used to watching HDTV, anything else is lousy!
If you want TiVO which means you can throw away all the junk programs with the click of a button, pause live TV, rewind live TV, start watching TV 30 minutes after a show starts and fast forward through the commercials, save an entire season of all the shows you like in their own categories and watch them at your leisure, that is $4.99 extra and also requires a different receiver for an extra charge.
Going from analog to digital in 2009, you won't even notice with satellite or cable.
The HDMI output to the HD monitor is encrypted. MPAA forced manufacturers of the chipsets to design them in a manner that precludes tapping a decrypted signal to another type of display. More meddling by the MPAA elitists that will end up costing the end users lots of money.
We only have once HD station over the air in Pocatello that I can receive with sufficient signal strength. Fortunately it is NBC so I can see the single hour of TV that I watch each week in HD if I'm even home to watch.
I have a couple DishNet receivers. My wife and kids watch lots of hours of stuff from the satellite. The local over the air broadcasters could be scraped off the landscape and we wouldn't notice for weeks.
Luckily, we all believe in the free market here /sarc
No. "Digital" rabbit ears are already avilable at Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, etc. Just need a set than can accept the signal or a converter box to accept the signal. Haven't seen a set-top converter/rabbit ears combo, if someone doesn't make it already, they will if the market is there.
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