On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 3:27 AM, Constance Warner<cawar...@his.com> wrote:
> I have to wonder who thought that digital TV was such a terrific idea, > anyway. > > On WAMU on Kojo's show on Tuesday, he had 2 digital experts. From listeners > who called or emailed in with the now-familiar complaints, the experts > had--basically--one counter-argument: "Sports will be so much clearer!" > > Gee, fellas, I guess that makes it all worthwhile, missing stations and > everything. > > BTW, I'm in inner Montgomery County and I get Channel 9--usually in little > bits and pieces. Everyone who wanted to make money as a result of the transition are the ones who wanted digital TV. That includes TV manufacturers, all the companies that make the communications equipment that would be required to execute the changeover, all the companies that make the communications equipment that would be purchased by government and industry when they inherit the old frequencies that TV used to use, and on and on. There were many warnings by experts about how problematic reception would be for much of the public, and those warnings did cause concern within the broadcast industry, but the digital steamroller was already moving and would not be stopped. All the reservations about the changeover were offset by numerous promises and grand visions about how much the public would gain when the changeover occurred. Congressional inquiries were told about how television sets would be essentially turned into computers and viewers could use their sets to shop, to arrange for customized "viewing experiences," on-demand programming and all sorts of visionary ways to use TV in the digital age. None of that ever came to pass. Can you say BS? So today, all that is left for anyone involved in the transition to say is, as you put it, "Sports will be so much clearer!" Sure...if you can get it on your digital TV. Steve ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
