Why did Stereo TV broadcast take so long to appear?

[Robert Grant]

Actually, we still have NTSC in the states, as well:

Most low power (LPTV) stations are still analog.

All VCRs and most DVD players and video games output in NTSC.

Those converter boxes convert ATSC digital programs to NTSC, so, many people watching digital stations are still actually watching NTSC.

Those of us near the Mexican or Canadian borders can still get Mexican or Canadian stations in analog OTA. CBET (Windsor's CBC station) is watched frequently here (it is kinda sad to note that CTV, not CBC, has the Winter Olympic franchise this year, as CBC always had good Olympic coverage to supplement the US networks).

The biggie: Analog cable. Despite Comcast's "Project Cavalry" project, millions of Americans on other cable systems are watching NTSC just as they did before last June.

[Chad Hauris]

I seem to remember when I had analog cable TV, and this was probably 10 years ago, that none of the channels were in stereo except maybe MTV...even though the over-the-air channels' broadcast (or the original cable channels satellite feed) was in stereo, the cable company transmitted it in mono.