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And the govt. subsidizing [digital television] by providing coupons for people to buy analog-to-digital converters -- what a breach of laissez faire ethics! I bet Ron Paul is steaming angry! But I've noticed that unlike with other government cash payouts to people -- and these subsidies have no income cap requirements!! -- the media is pretty cheerful on this. "Check out this kick ass new thing the govt.'s helping people do! It's exciting!" But my guess is because a lot of the news outlets reporting on this also have a stake in people switching to digital TV so they can continue to view their advertisers..er, I mean, news.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071211/digital_tv_government.html?.v=2>
.........
Oh, this rabbit hole is so very deep and I have no time to really get into it.
Like the advanced access content system (AACS) and digital rights management (DRM) mishigas, digital television is a much fussed over, but, ironically, still poorly planned corporate revenue enhancement project.
Once implemented, the effects will be far reaching and annoying. Many, perhaps most people are still completely unaware and will be dismayed and confused when analog signals go dark.
(Yes Jordan, I know it's also a reallocation/freeing up of ever scarcer spectrum resources, but, in the fumbling hands of our government and corporate betters, the real world *implementation* of this reallocation is looking a lot like an increasingly typical, 21st century, American incompetence shit storm to me.)
For almost a decade, Harry Shearer has been diligently tracking the impending arrival of what he calls the "digital wonderland".
For a good overview of the situation from Harry's well informed POV, see:
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/crystal-clear-press-relea_b_12747.html>
.d.