"Who is really benefiting from this change"
Obviously, it remains to be seen as to who will benefit. The original idea of going to digital only communications is to benefit just about everybody.
If you look around in most places, especially around populated areas. There are so many communications towers out there that any direction that you turn you can probably see the lights of a tower at night in that direction. With so many of these towers broadcasting what ever on them with analog signals. The whole communications band width has become a jumbled up mess with transmissions interfering with each other. Plus they are running out of frequencies to assign.
Here is a list of some of the benefits as I understand them:
1. By changing to digital a single frequency or channel can carry several transmissions making more room on the band width. Now the Federal Communications Commission (
FCC) can require this change to digital TV and Radio and free up some of the space. It will also reduce the interference of transmissions of one frequency to another. This will also reduce or prevent a transmission skip.
A skip is when during certain atmospheric conditions you pick up a TV station in Kansas City for a brief time when you are over 1,000 miles away from Kansas City. In amateur radio this is also referred to as the band being open.
To help the public with this change the
FCC is providing the coupon program so that no one has to buy a new TV set to continue to watch TV. The federal money that is going into the coupon program will be returned many times over with the revenues from these now open analog frequencies that can be reassigned for a fee or whatever.
According to some of the TV stations engineers. Analog signals that are still there is interfering with the new digital signals. Digital reception should improve after the February change over.
2. Now that TV stations can broadcast more than one channel it opens up the opportunity for additional revenues. Now they can run and get paid for commercials on several channels at the same time. They can even match the commercial time to the theme of each channel. Such as the kids channel, weather channel, classic movie channel and the list could go on.
3. Now the public can enjoy more available TV channels that are geared more to the individuals interests. This also eliminates or partly eliminates the need for pay cable and satellite TV. Now you do not have to pay to watch a commercial.
4. The freed up analog bandwidth is now available for benefit of business, industry, law enforcement and so on. Revenues from this will go back into the pot that the cost of implementation and the coupon program came from.
I have no idea how or what the FCC charges for anything. I do know that there has been a fee for any FCC licenses that I have had.
5. Now that the local network affiliates can broadcast on multiple channels. The networks can now do the same thing by supplying multiple channel programing for the local affiliate to rebroadcast. Now the network can also get paid for more commercials at the same time.
From what I can see PBS is the only one that has taken advantage of this so far. PBS has at least eight feeds of different programming to the local PBS stations. They have the Create channel, kids channel, High Definition only channel plus five feeds of different program streams that the local stations can pick and choose from to rebroadcast.
I am certain that other benefits of the digital change exist that I am not thinking of right now. Without a doubt some benefits will not work out the way that we might hope that they would.
I have spent much of my life out in the world doing other things or going to school. TV was not a part of those times. Once settled down in one place I like to watch TV when I want or get the chance. I feel as though the TV game has always been to get all of the channels that it is possible to get. Then when I want to watch TV there might be something on TV that I want watch. I really do appreciate the RTN and the American Family networks that runs the excellent TV shows from the 50s, 60s and 70s that I have never seen.
Now that more programming is available with the digital channels I find it very exciting. I do not want to offend anyone but the programming out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota that is available in my area is really bad. I find that for what ever reason that is due to their choice of programming. Now that I have set up with a satellite dish to get many local stations across the country. It is obvious that the choice of programming in addition to the stations network offerings is better just about everywhere else. Maybe part of that is because I am also from somewhere else and maybe my preferences are different. However the people that have been around here all of their lives that I know, pretty much feels the same way about local programming.
One other thing that has occurred to me about going digital. If, everything is to become digital. How does that affect our radio at home or in the car? The radio stations are also required to go digital. Do we now have to buy a new radio?
I asked those questions to the chief engineer of a local TV and radio station. His answer was that with radio they also have to change to digital broadcasts. He said that they are doing it differently with radio than they what they must do with TV for the change over. He went on to say that with the radio station transition to digital. Our existing radios in our car and at home will continue to work with no modifications necessary. I did not get the opportunity to find out how radio transmissions are changing or what the engineers must do to make the change.
I thought that someone might be interested in knowing this if they did not already know. Maybe everybody but me already knew about digital radio.
Who is really benefiting from this change
Linear Mode
