[MacDV] January 1, 2009 Doomsday Plan

[Michael Winter]

On Jul 18, 2005, at 6:33 PM, Kunga wrote:

> That I WILL NOT DO. And neither will millions of other Americans.
>
> k
>
> On Jul 18, 2005, at 4:31 PM, Robert Meadors wrote:
>
>
>> Well, they wont be doorstops but you WILL have to sign up for  
>> satellite or cable TV.

Why? This transition affects over-the-air transmission only. That  
means the stations that are broadcasting over the air now will still  
be broadcasting over the air then. Just in digital. Over-the-air  
broadcasting isn't going to disappear. As evidence, look at how hard  
the industry players are fighting to get their share of the bandwidth  
for just such transmissions.

If you want to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts you will need  
either a TV with a digital tuner or a convertor box. Note the TV  
display doesn't need to be digital, just the tuner (either internal  
or external).

As a side note, if there really is a huge demographic that doesn't  
want to buy digital-ready TV's, there's nothing preventing the cable  
companies from continuing their analog feeds.

-Mike