so it's coming. signed into law (in the u.s.) in '06. by '09 analog tv on the airwaves is gone. what is the logic, again, behind the move besides helping make rupert murdoch and others in the telecom industry even richer and giving them more control over what we get to see and hear and know etc.? and is the public even aware that this is going down?
i'm not completely sure what's happening, but surely it's a huge D, no?
also, according to wiki, it's already happened or is in the works in other countries, although the circumstances/reasoning may be different elsewhere. itl. ilxors, what's gone on where you are?
― andrew m., Monday, 6 August 2007 15:35 (eighteen years ago)
i just learned this myself. come 2009 if you don't have a cable hookup you'll have to buy a digital converter for your old set.
― get bent, Monday, 6 August 2007 15:43 (eighteen years ago)
http://www.freeview.co.uk/
it's like cable but free - massively classic
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 6 August 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)
plus all the old, unconverted TVs can be eventually utilized to create some pynchonesque sub-mediascape of lo-fi revolutionary portent
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 6 August 2007 15:55 (eighteen years ago)
yes, rabbit ears are the new vinyl! Be the first last of the rebel media vanguard tv is on can this wait? i'm sure it's all very interesting!
― tremendoid, Monday, 6 August 2007 16:10 (eighteen years ago)
it really is just better tech for delivering TV over the air. the fact that it's a bonanza for equipment manufacturers shouldn't obscure this.
my only real problem with digital, and it's a big one, is that the US has "auctioned" the spectrum to the highest bidder - as if the material substrate of air/magnetic fields could be "owned" by someone! these congressmen crow about the $ the government stands to rake in, but how much MORE could the govt make if it said to broadcasters what is self-evident: that the air belongs to the citizens of whatever nation it hovers over, and can certainly be RENTED by whomever from those citizens, for whatever purposes, but not outright OWNED in perpetuity. it constitues a massive giveaway IMO - and crucially (IIRC) is not subject to the same pathetically-enforced "public interest, convenience and necessity" programming mandates that governed traditional analog broadcasting.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 6 August 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)
it's awesome! i get HD over the air for free! hd soccer!!
― s1ocki, Monday, 6 August 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)
i watched TROY in hd! for free! through a pair of rabbit ears!
TROY!
digital broadcasting in the UK won't get HD for at least a couple more years :(
leading to the "hilarious" situation in which basically the only way to watch "BBC HD" is to sign up for Sky, which is owned by rupert murdoch!
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 6 August 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)
that the air belongs to the citizens of whatever nation it hovers over, and can certainly be RENTED by whomever from those citizens, for whatever purposes, but not outright OWNED in perpetuity.
air rights is one of the more bizarre facets of land use law.
― get bent, Monday, 6 August 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)
yeah, that's different, though; i think spectrum rights are assumed to be vested in the government and is the government's to dispose with as it sees fit. i'm not sure why - maybe because electromagnetic waves can't be pinpointed and corralled as easily as airplanes or construction workers can.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 6 August 2007 17:14 (eighteen years ago)
hmm reading a bit more i think i'm wrong about the ownership aspect of these spectrum auctions (which began around 1994). what has been auctioned off in the US are LICENSES which do have to be renewed (but not paid for again) and are subject to the same conditions as other previous licenses. it is pretty complicated. the renewals are apparently practically automatic, but at least that lever is there in the future should the govt ever need to apply some political pressure on an irresponsible broadcaster (*cough* FOX)
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 6 August 2007 17:19 (eighteen years ago)