Posted by Goro on 10/31/05 03:41

Goro wrote:
> showtaper@hotmail.com wrote:
> > Rich wrote:
> > > HDTV sales in the U.S. to grow 71 percent by 2009
> > >
> > > Television manufacturers will see a surge in cumulative HDTV sales
> > > over the next few years, which will boost the overall market value to
> > > $65 billion by 2009, according to "Adoption of High-Definition TVs and
> > > Services," a new study from Parks Associates.
> >
> > >BIG BORING SNIP<
> >
> > Yeah, it'll eventually be shoved down everybody's throats.
> >
> > The average monkey sitting at home doesn't give a shit about
> > content or picture quality. They just want their TV valium......
> >
> > Will there be a government subsidy for the millions that can't
> > afford this expensive new equipment?? HDTV is going nowhere
> > until it is affordable to the masses.
>
> uhm, scary that you mention that. Apparently, there WILL be several
> hundreds of million $ allocated to supply people with HD2SD boxes so
> taht they can watch digital tv on their analog sd tv sets in 2009 (or
> whenever). I think the money for this is supposed to come from the
> auctioning of the exisitng analog bandwidth.
>
> I'll try to locate the link where i saw this.
>
> -goro-

ok, here's the link :

(my mistake, not several hundred Million $, but $3B)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102001979.html

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers want to spend $3 billion to make sure millions
of Americans won't wake up to blank TV screens when the country makes
the switch to all-digital broadcasts.

The subsidy was approved Thursday by the Senate Commerce Committee as
part of legislation that would set April 7, 2009, as the firm date for
television broadcasters to end their traditional analog transmissions
and send their broadcasts via digital signals.

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Digital television promises sharper pictures and better sound than
analog TV. But millions of Americans with older TV sets rely solely on
free, over the-air-television, and they'll need some type of a
converter box to keep receiving their television service. Cable and
satellite customers won't be affected.

Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Congress needs to do
something to help consumers with the older analog sets, an estimated 21
million households. "If we're mandating this (digital) conversion, we
cannot leave people behind because they can't afford" digital
television sets, he said.

The draft of a House bill would end analog transmissions on Dec. 31,
2008. It does not mention a subsidy for set-top converter boxes. So,
lawmakers will likely have to work out differences between the two
bills, though Stevens said he did not anticipate a big fight with the
House over the deadline or the subsidy.

The subsidy program would be paid for by money raised from the auction
of the analog spectrum the broadcasters are vacating. The subsidy would
be available for all those households with older televisions, and it
would pay for converter boxes for all the TVs in a particular
household, regardless of financial status.

Stevens estimates that the converter boxes would cost about $50. His
plan would call for the government to pay roughly $40, and the consumer
would make a co-payment of $10.

Some fellow Republicans have questioned whether the $3 billion is too
high, given other spending priorities such as Hurricane Katrina
recovery.

The move to all-digital broadcasts will free valuable radio spectrum,
some of which will be allocated to improve radio communications among
fire and police departments and other first responders.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the committee, tried to move up
the hard date up by two years to April 7, 2007. But other senators said
a sale in 2007, unlike one in 2009, wouldn't raise as much money for
the converter boxes and for reducing the federal debt.

McCain said first responders can't wait four years for the analog
spectrum. "There's only one thing more important than money _ and
that's lives," he told the committee before his amendment to speed up
the conversion was defeated.

The sale of the analog spectrum is expected to raise at least $10
billion. Besides the $3 billion for converter boxes, the Senate bill
proposes reserving $1 billion for public safety to buy new radio
communications equipment and $250 million for a national alert system.
Another $5 billion would be set aside for debt reduction.

The seemingly random date of April 7, 2009, isn't all that random.
Stevens wanted to make sure that any digital switch wouldn't come in
the middle of popular programming during the holidays, football bowl
games, and the March Madness college basketball playoffs.
-goro-

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