Quote:
Originally Posted by peverett
That part about your TV working as it always has if you have cable should be modified to "your TV will work as it always has until the cable company steals your analog channels and places them on premium service"
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I don't think the FCC will allow the cable companies to move
broadcast channels to premium levels of service. I also believe the cable providers may be violating who knows how many laws by "stealing" analog stations and relocating them to premium tiers. The broadcast channels in any given area are the stations people watch most of the time, and let's face it--cable service was never free. We pay for every level of service there is on every cable system in the US, even the bare-bones local-channels-only service.
The government is making much too big a deal over the DTV transition, and has from its first announcements of same back in 2006 or thereabouts. From those dire warnings that "all televisions will go black after xx.xx.2006" to that ridiculous nightmare scenario stating that there will be millions of analog TVs being put out for the trash (because unmodified analog TVs will not receive digital signals), and everything in between, the campaign to educate the public about DTV has become, IMHO, one huge, overdramatic soap opera.
As I have said in my previous posts, sheeeesh! What a mess! The viewers who use OTA antennas and live in poor-signal areas will be affected the worst by the switch, no thanks to DTV's "all or nothing" nature. These people could get cable if they are in an area served by a cable provider, but those who are not, or who cannot afford cable and must make do with OTA, are going to be left in the lurch if their TV reception is anything short of darn near perfect. This is due to digital television's "all or nothing" nature; with digital, you will either see a picture or your screen will be blank--no snow as with weak analog signals. Who is going to tolerate watching the evening news, for example, when the picture is breaking up into squares (pixelating) or disappearing altogether because of weather or other reasons?
This is already happening with the cable system here in northeastern Ohio. I was watching a football game with a friend of mine last Sunday when the picture suddenly froze, and the sound went silent as well. I don't know if this was an issue with the cable provider or the local TV station, but I bet there were plenty of viewers throughout the area who witnessed the same thing my friend and I did--and they probably (even likely) did not like it, one bit.
I see this kind of freeze-up every now and again on the cable here; I wonder if anyone else has seen this on their local cable systems. The local channels, at least in my area, are being carried on the cable as analog signals, and will be until 02.19. If I am seeing this kind of interruption now, I almost hate to think what may be in store once everything is digital.