Saturday, November 05, 2005

Digital TV

An article on the AP wire states that: "The Senate moved the digital TV transition one step closer to reality on Thursday, setting a firm date for television broadcasters to switch to all-digital transmissions. Lawmakers gave broadcasters until April 7, 2009, to end their traditional analog transmissions."

My first questions were "Why is the government concerned with this? Why would they create such a mandate?" The answer seems plausible: "The move to all-digital will free valuable radio spectrum, some of which will be allocated to improve radio communications among fire and police departments and other first responders."

However, tucked in this article is a disturbing note: "The bill also would provide $3 billion to help millions of Americans buy digital-to-analog converter boxes for their older television sets — so those consumers will continue to receive a signal once the switch is made permanent."

What the? So, let me get this straight. Pass the No Child Left Behind Act, which creates mandates for education, yet provide no extra funds to the states to help with compliance. Then pass the "Digital TV Act," which mandates digital TV transmissions, then provide $3 billion dollars...SO PEOPLE CAN WATCH TV.

If you have a strong stomach, read the article here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That just seems like craziness to me and another example of excess government intrusion. It does seem like it would be chaos for radio and TV frequencies not to be regulated by our government, but a legal requirement for TV to be broadcase in a certain way seems overly intrusive. I would imagine that the only way something like that could pass as law would be if it included a big slice of pork. 3 Billion, you say? Well there it is!