New York Times:
Millions of households will lose television reception next week when about 1,000 broadcasters around the nation shut off their analog signals and complete their conversion to digital programming, federal officials say.
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So I guess we don't need to pay for a federal study to conclude that America has millions of idiots.
Years of warnings, and another gavernementhand out. Toughsh it if they aren't ready.
Some people do not deserve technology
Wow, what a selfish, unsympathetic thing to say.
If you know someone who does not understand or have the technology, then PLEASE help them out. There's no reason for old people, the poor, or immigrants to suffer because of a few greedy FCC officials, who saw a way to make millions by selling the analog bands, and not care about the people who may not have the wherewithall to grasp the situation. They have done a much better job at getting the word out, but there are those who still will not understand what is happening.
And as a Chicagoan (if you really are), you should know better. We are the city of big shoulders, of helping everyone, of looking out for our own. Go buy yourself a cup of humanity.
I'm sick of hearing the converter box program called a "handout". The government is rendering older televisions obsolete without the box. These are working TVs which millions of Americans have bought and paid for. The least the government can do, considering the billions they'll make from selling the airwaves freed up by the switch, is to reimburse the owners of older TVs for the price of the box. What's so hard to understand? A government reimbursing people for an expense CAUSED by a government mandate isn't a handout.
I suppose that would apply someday to reimbursing people for their big $50,000 internal combustion automobiles, when gas savers are mandated?--- It's an old $200. Television. Things change.
Hey, you may be sick and tired, but thanks for the comment. I guess it turns out that I agree. I used to object especially to the government paying for TWO tvs per household, but you're right, it's a drop in the bucket, and really two tvs is not exactly extravagant...yes, it's more than my family of four owns, but on the other hand we have four computers, which are more or less tvs if we want them to be. I do think that this move is technologically a sound one, but have to acknowledge that the government should help people out on this. On the other hand, I have to agree that anyone who is unaware of the change to digital and how to get it, for free, with a little effort, must be unaware of nearly all of the information they've received.
The government "handout" occurred the day that the FCC put aside the well-being of the American people in order to hand giant corporations the bandwidth analog NTSC signals were using.
The Government ORDERED TV to go Digital so they could SELL the freed up bandwidth. This whole transfer has made the Government 10's of Billions of Dollars.
TV is a drug. It has the same effect on the brain as heroin. Yet it is legal while marijuana will get you sent to prison for a few decades.
Hmmmmm.....I think that's dumb, and probably not true.
That's funny ! I watch a lot of TV, but just can't seem to get a good buzz going.
I guess they are counting ALL those Televisions that are in Attics or closets or used as
video game only monitors. We will NEVER be ready if they go by THOSE figures. Hell, just do it and
let everyone catch up.
Who cares?
TV is dying.
Content streamed on the internet is the future.
Most studies indicate this is not true at all. It may be the future, but the far future. We're talking decades.
Maybe.
Kids stream the shows they want on their notebooks.
Just like computers eliminated our need for so much paper! ;-)
Yeah right, just like radio no longer exists and paper made from wood and, and, and..... It's just not gonna happen.
Remember when TV killed the movies?
Remember when cable killed the movies?
Remember when Video killed the movies?
Remember last year when the movie industry broke records?
Yeah, that's if your phone company wires your area for DSL. No DSL here. No cable either in the boonies. Rural people are forgotten in the south. I've been calling AT&T once a week for months to ask them to install DSL lines. Can get satellite internet, but it costs a fortune.
Maybe millions thought about it for about a nano-second and said "Pfuuk it, there's nothing worth watching on tv anyway."
They'd be uninformed. There's a lot of garbage out there, but there's also some of the best drama and comedy to ever hti the medium, shows with greater character development than most feature films, great writing, and inventive stories.
A few examples:
Breaking Bad, Mad Men, In Treatment, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, The Office, Weeds, and recent shows such as Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Shield, Extras, Arrested Development, etc.
There are a lot of really wonderful shows in existence at the moment.
The irony of your comment is that most of the shows you mention are cable shows. If they had cable in the first place, they wouldn't have an analog issue.
;)
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that not only do they need a converter box, they have to shell out big bucks for a new antenna as just any won't work.
It's 2009. Time for an upgrade anyway.
I've been studying very hard. I hope I'm ready.
For Pete's sake, enough already. Either get a new TV or go to the senior center to watch TV. Fox is certainly going to lose a large number of viewers . . . .
HAhahahaha, so true.
Fox News is on cable. These folks wouldn't need a converter box if the could watch it;
Odd are congress is going to chicken out again and move the date to 2010!
They've only been talking about the switch for 5 years..how much time do people need?
Folks, I hate to break it to you all but TV is not a Right.
For those that get cut off later this month, oh well.......just go get a box numbnut!
Sarabona, your comments are stupid! Many farmers in rural areas cannot receive either cable or satellite. The roof antenna is their way of receiving the analog signal - and guess what? The digital converter box does not work in all areas, especially very rural areas. Do some research before spouting off your stupid mouth! Their problem is the FCC's problem, and the FCC should fix it! But again, I guess you would rather tell our farmers to go f*&# themselves.
Thank you, donia1970.
No, I'd tell the farmers to repair and/or upgrade their existing outdoor antennas that have been sitting out in the elements for decades. . .
This could be the beginning of the end of broadcast TV. Once the transition is complete, the overwhelming number of TV stations in the country will be operating on hard-to-receive UHF channels, and when you don't get an adequate signal, you get NO PICTURE. A very few will remain on VHF, but at significantly reduced power. People therefore may keep their TVs but limit their viewing to VHF tapes or DVDs from the liberry. Maybe they'll learn something.
It took 50 years for the TV industry to build out the infrastructure for analog. I would have to say that it will take a few years more until all is finished with the digital side.
Is that Izzy Mandelbaum in the photo manhandling that tv ?
You know this country has had over a decade to prepare for this switch. Two subsequent delays later...? What, are we going to wait until the stragglers die of old age before we do this?
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First Posted: 06- 5-09 10:55 PM | Updated: 06- 5-09 11:02 PM