[Jeffhs]

I live in a small town some 35 miles east of Cleveland. There is one TV repair shop about five miles from here, which has been around since 1947. If that place ever closes its doors, I'm afraid us folks out here in the middle of nowhere are going to be up the creek if our TVs, stereos, etc. need repairs (unless we take our sets to a shop some 10 miles away, which is still in business and likely will be for some time--even in this age of HD, LCD/plasma TV, and so on). There was also a TV sales/service place which for years was within walking distance of my former home, but it moved some 10 miles or so east some time ago; I have no idea whether it's still there or not.

I guess that's the way things are going for the TV repair business these days. Smaller shops are closing down left and right, like the one in Doug's area. However, I am surprised that at least two TV repair shops in suburbs of a major city such as Chicago are shutting down this way. With all those TVs in the metro area, not to mention the city of Chicago itself, I would think the shops would have enough business to keep them in the black for quite some time.

BTW, Geoff Bourquin's remarks as to the HDTV changeover deadline are right on the mark, except for one thing. All televisions, regardless of screen size, will have to be equipped with ATSC tuners by next year; however, it is true that all sets with screens 32 inches and up must have the capability now (this went into effect not too long ago). I believe this is the FCC's first step towards phasing out NTSC 4:3 television, with the rest of it spread out over the following two years. But, given the sheer number of analog TVs still in use in this country, some of which, as I have stated before here, are either brand new, very new or new enough that they are nowhere near ready for the landfill, there will still be folks using these sets with digital cable and DVD players for some time to come when ATSC replaces NTSC. I also know people who do not seem to care about the deadline; they will worry about replacing their analog sets, or doing whatever they have to do to get TV reception after NTSC signals go off the air for good, when the time comes. There are many people in this country who simply do not worry about these things. Given the garbage (for the most part) that passes for entertainment on the Big Three networks these days, I can't say I blame them. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people wind up going without television, or watching DVDs exclusively and having only basic cable for news and sports, after everything goes digital. I must admit I have been considering the latter very seriously; in fact, even now most of my viewing is of old classic TV shows and documentaries, etc. on DVD. The idea seems more and more appealing to me the closer we get to HD-or-Nothing Day.