Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Why is the the government involved in a changeover from analog to digital tv?

I am curious to understand why our government is involved in forcing people to go from analog to digital signals. There is so much money being spent on this program and I do not understand why. Does it have something to do with National Security? Is it going to be cheaper in the long run for everyone or the television industry? I do not understand why the government is even involved in this and feel it is a waste of tax dollars and just want a better understanding as to why it is being done.


Many years ago when the airwaves were being used for commercial broadcast, the government very rightly concluded that those airwaves belonged to the people. Like all aspects of the country's infrastructure, our elected officials became the stewards of them. companies who wanted to use them paid a lease on them which went to the government who used the money to pay for essentials we all need, i.e. schools, military, etc.

Now, that we've discovered that Digital transmissions don't need all of that space on the airwaves, it's been decided that we can switch everything to Digital, and then sell the rest to private corporations. So, whereas the switch will cost the public a little of money - TV stations will save due to the switch, and we'll get a great deal of money from the sale of the airwaves back into the public coffers.

You are about 10 years too late to be whining about the change over. The process was signed in to law by Clinton.

Analog TV uses a lot of bandwidth. Digital TV will have more channels, allow for additional content from the same station and use less bandwidth. This allows for more radio services to use the available radio spectrum.

Yes, in the long run it will be cheaper.

The government is involved because TV (and other radio transmissions) are regulated by the federal government (the FCC to be precise) to ensure compatibility of equipment.

No it has to do with Cable companies profits and a signal that has been in use in Europe for years. We the people own the airwaves that private corporations uses so we the people help with the switchover.

TV signals being transmitted digitally are much more efficient than analog transmissions. That means a lot of the airwaves will now be free for other wireless uses, ie cell phones.

Which means there will be new tax revenues coming in from the new usage.

VOTES...Deep thinking is necessary to understand my answer...DEEP...

its easier for the libs to spy on you.

No comments:

Post a Comment