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July 27, 2007
Notes from Ferdy - You Have Two Years to Fix Your TV
Congress is concerned about the lack of broadcast bandwidth, so on February 18, 2009, broadcast television will switch from analog to digital. Digital TV takes less bandwidth than analog TV. Some of the bandwidth freed by the switch will be divided between police and fire departments, and the rest will be auctioned off for use by new technologies.
If your TV does not contain a digital tuner, then you will be unable to receive broadcast TV signals after the switch takes place. Personally, I cannot see a downside to this, because broadcast TV is full of spam; however, The Girl Who Feeds claims that some TV shows, like Heroes, are so good they negate the deleterious effects of the spam. This means that I have to care about this digital tuner thing, which is a real pain.
Theoretically, any TV purchased after March 1, 2007 already has a digital tuner built-in. You can buy a converter box for a few hundred dollars. Congress believes that by the deadline the cost of such a box will be down to $60. This is based on the rather odd economic theory that if you force people to buy something, the price will drop.
The broadcast networks have promised to advertise the switch so that consumers won't be surprised when it happens. There is some concern, however, that people who don't watch television will not see the ads.
There is also concern that people won't be able to afford the $60 tuner boxes. To fix this problem, Congress has authorized $990 million to produce $40 coupons that can be used to buy digital tuners. Each household can receive a maximum of two of these coupons. $110 million is to be used for administrative costs. This means that the government will have $880 million to split between non-administrative overhead and the coupons themselves.
So, in the near future, your TV signal may degenerate into a storm of pixels with no discernible meaning or content. If you are a broadcast-only TV user, then this means you need to buy a new tuner. If not, then you've found CNN and you should switch channels immediately.
You've been warned.
Respectfully submitted,
Ferdinand T. Cat
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