News and Reviews....

The End of Analog TV- Part 5 ....... May  2006 

By Robert Lieto

    This is an update on the issue of the shut-off date for analog TV as we know it. Under current law, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, set the complete switch from analog to digital to occur on Wednesday February 18, 2009 requiring that the airwaves be returned to the government. Almost before the ink dried on President Bush's signature authorizing the transition, doubts surfaced about the nation's ability to shut off by the designated date.. Also the critical decisions on the MUST CARRY for cable and satellite and the distribution of subsidized converter boxes are still very much in flux. Capitol watchers believe the final decision will occur more near the Election Day 2008, just 3 months prior.

    Keep in mind that this year will become the first year in which Digital TV products outsell their analog counterparts. About 62% of this years TV monitor sales will be digital. That equates to about 48.2 million digital displays in US homes, 12 million in this year alone. By the 2009 transition target date about 85 percent of U.S. homes will be able to see digital broadcast, fulfilling one of the original prerequisites of the DTV transition. The commissioner of CEA is emphasizing a national DTV education program due to the barely one-fourth of Americans that realize that their analog TV sets will need a converter box to reproduce broadcast TV signals after the transition date.  

Comment .....   And so the effort goes on to inform the public, set the must carry rules and budget the Converter box give a way. Many issues must be resolved prior to Feb 18, 2009. We will just have to wait and see.

For Past Articles on the Subject

End of Analog YV - Part 4  Nov. 2005

End of Analog TV - Part 3   July 2005

End of Analog TV - Part 2   May 2005

End of Analog TV    January 2005

Plug & Play  April 2003

The H in HDTV   July 2002

HDTV.....As I See It   October 2001