Quote:
Originally Posted by coryd
I understand why the quality of DTV is better, but why is it appropriate for the government to pass a law to force this change. Laws are meant to protect the people of our great country. However, I do not believe they were originally meant to force a technology change, allowing product manufacturers to sell their equipment to a mass number of households. This law does not seem to protect anyone, just fatten a few wallets. |
I'm not an expert on the Telecommunications Act of 1996, but I do believe that Congress did, in fact, mandate a technology shift from analog broadcasts to all digital. (See Jay's post above this one for the rationale) It has been in "in the books" for 12 years, and while it is definitely making millions for manufacturers of HDTVs, cable/satellite boxes, and the new analog-to-converter boxes, it's not exactly "not protecting" consumers.
I think the problem is that the government and the media did not really make much of an effort to explain what the
DTV portion of the Telecommunications Act actually meant; most of the public's attention in 1996 was on keeping the cable companies from raising their fees unfairly, if memory serves. Now that the February 2009 deadline is getting closer, everyone seems to be so surprised and almost panicky about it.
