The limit is two coupons per household.

People seem to expect converter box prices to be competitive; like everything else, they’ll probably start higher and then fall. The predicted prices seem roughly in line with what people are paying in Britain (though, admittedly, their DTV uses a different standard). But we really won’t know until they hit the market.

Analog cable isn’t completely settled yet, but the FCC is studying the issue. Satellite subs will be OK, as long as they get their local channels via satellite…but some still use antennas for that, and would generally need to sign up for a local package or get a new receiver that includes a digital tuner.

Most people really don’t give a rats backside about whether or not they get a digital or analog signal when they turn on their TV. Just as long as it is not interrupted. I strongly suspect that come Feb 18, 2009 a number of top officials at the FCC will be sweating blood as outraged phone calls deluge the peoples congressional representatives. The calls will start earlier as some people aren’t going to like having to purchase ANOTHER %&^% BOX to connect to their TV - I will be one of them. Either way, Feb 18, 2009 is going to be a bad day at the ‘ole FCC corral. And dragging the Commerce Department into the mess isn’t going to make the FCC any friends over there either.

As far as putting up prominent signage or face a stiff fine is concerned - if you’re not looking for a new TV it won’t make any difference. And as far as “extending the life of analog televisions” this too is a bad joke. My set is slightly less than 5 years old and will probably last another 8-10 years. I have never been able to convince myself that throwing away perfectly good money is a bright idea.

I have looked at the HDTV format and my reaction so far is - so what. Greater picture clarity of otherwise crap programing is NOT AN IMPROVEMENT. There is also very little HDTV programming available and going to cable or satellite is no great deal either - actually its a pretty bad choice all around. There are more and longer commercial breaks on cable than there are on broadcast TV and - because you have to pay a subscription for your cable package - you are actually paying to watch commercials. Such a deal !!!! Oh, and never mind that you can’t get just what you want and nothing else, you have to buy “packages” which contain a lot of programming you will never watch anyway. Such a deal 2 !!!!

I predict there will be a lot of blood and political hide on the floor before this settles out. And the only winner will be the cell phone industry that wanted the band width in the first place and played political games to get it. But who cares, it’s only the taxpayers and their money. Rant mode off.

Steve, thanks for the info and the comment. I suspect 2 boxes may not be enough for some families. They’ll have to find a way to ‘cheat’ somehow.

Mike, I suspect you’re right about a lot of this. I’m sure there will be a brouhaha a few weeks to a few days on television before to get the point across, and whip the masses into a frenzy about this. Of note, this bandwidth is being allocated to police and fire, or so the FCC says. I find this specious, as the reasons given are improved signal permeation in buildings… 69 6MHz channels are not needed in each locality for police and fire usage, there just isn’t that much going on. I hesitate to say this, as I’ve been attacked for stating how the right wishes to sell off everything to private enterprise, but this move was not fully in place before the Bush administration. I wonder what the ARRL and amateurs [hams] have had to say about this, as it will encroach on their bandwidth as well.

There will be a lot of grief, but unfortunately, most will be after the fact, and so, not of much use. BTW, thanks for the comments.

Oh, absolutely.
My speakers are digital-ready, my new furniture has a digital-ready sticker, and the special cleaner the guy sold me with the digital tv is cleaner for digital tv’s only.

Let’s be serious for a moment (if I can remain serious for that period of time):
This entire deal will be of great benefit. It will benefit the manufacturers, who get to sell us all new equipment,. It will benefit the FCC, which will auction off the public’s airwaves. Lastly, it will benefit the large corporations, who will get choice frequency spectrum at a price only they can afford.

With such a beneficial transaction, no one loses.
(except the consumer, who generally can’t tell his AM from his D-to-A converter)

Ok, that’s enough seriousness for me for one night.

Most of my life I have not had a TV, or subscribed to cable/satellite. Recently I wanted to watch something on Urban Exploring, and subscribed to Comcast Cable. I, and my family were horrified…what is that crap? Within two weeks we had Comcast unplug us….what a relief. I am happy with my old analogue style TV, Netflix, and web TV. I almost never deal with commercials, I watch on my time, and I pay very little in monthly cost. Why do I want to be inundated by societal programming, government service messages, hypnotizing commercials, and unintelligent plot lines? Maybe if we all just walked away from this crap, we could do something worthwhile with our lives. We need to start demanding quality, and stop spending money on this low grade crap that dulls the mind.

Shadow, are you recovering Amish? Luddite? Seriously, I appreciate the comment, but the post is not an assessment of television as much as how we get it, and that the FCC, and this administration, decided we needed a change so the government could make money, and then the ‘friends’ of the administration could make even more money in perpetuity. I did not make the point, but agree that the airwaves need some control, but should be ruled by public decree, rather than private business, just because they ‘greased the right palms’ in Washington.

I will not be concerned that my family will be bemoaning the loss of TV commercials and all of the tripe that goes with them.

It will be easier for parents such as myself to censor the output of what my child will be watching by not having a HDTV and permitting only programing from pre-recorded DVD’s.

I’m certain that my child will eventually be exposed to HDTV somewhere
and my wife and I will deal with it but even now Dragon Tales is about as
wild as it gets at our house.

I see elimination of TV as a way of payback to the advertising
community for ruining several generations of children and their
parents.

I absolutely agree with the non cable/DVD crowd. We haven’t had cable for he past 5 years. Guess what? The kids go outside to play, or have friends over, we go for walks, talk to each other, in general we just live without the box.
Now, on to the DVD (our source for entertainment); ours (3 years old) gave up the ghost this past weekend. Try to buy another DVD player/recorder that will work on a 5 year old non-digital TV that works perfectly with “rabbit ears”! Can’t be done!

R.Lee, thanks for the comment. Are you referring to the fact that DVD players have no way to connect to the television through the antenna interface? If so, all you need is a device known as an RF modulator. Good quality ones can be had from many places for under $30.

As for why it is this way, most televisions have at least composite inputs [video, left channel audio, right channel audio], some have S-Video, which further breaks up the signal to chrominance and luminance signals, and some have the signal broken into red-green-blue components [known as component video]. All of these are designed to give a better picture quality. For those who don’t have any of those, a modulator is necessary. If you choose wisely, great results can still be had, with most of the picture quality still there.