On Aug 29, 2007, at 8:57 PM, Rev. Stewart Marshall wrote:
I just looked it up. It is the conversion of Analog to Digital that is being mandated by 2009.
That was my assumption. There is no requirement that when the switch is made to digital broadcasting that the programming be in high definition. It will be perfectly allowable for standard definition broadcasts to be carried on the new digital band.
In fact, if the broadcaster wishes to sell some of their available bandwidth to commercial entities for purposes other than TV broadcasting, they can do so. Since HD broadcasts use a lot of the available bandwidth, if the broadcaster rents or sells a goodly amount of their available bandwidth, there may not be enough left to provide for HD broadcasts.
It is likely that there are numerous parts of the country that may cease to have broadcast TV available after the switch in 2009. Given the same power levels in watts, digital signals have far less range than do the analog signals we now receive. They are also far more prone to loss of signal due to obstructions such as buildings, hills, etc. In areas where current TV signals are already weak, digital broadcasts from the same towers may not be able to be received at all. This is similar to the problems that have plagued the switch from lower band VHF to higher band UHF transmissions in the realm of public service radio communications.
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