OK, whose idea was this upcoming conversion to all-digital TV broadcasts anyway? Certainly not anyone intelligent and/or compassionate.
I know it will benefit cable and satellite companies and anyone involved in manufacturing or selling new TVs....so I'm guessing they were all pushing for it. Of course, you don't need to buy a new TV or get cable or satellite to tune it in, but try getting a salesperson or cable or satellite TV representative to tell you that. And yes, I do want what's best for a certain Minnesota-based electronics retailer, and I know they're struggling, but is this the best way to help them out?
I know it will benefit the companies making the converter boxes. Who got those contracts? Who did they know? Obviously someone, right?
Here's who it won't benefit: the average person, who has to either buy a new TV, sign up for satellite or cable, or screw around with a converter box (there are widespread reports of reception problems with them too - instead of being able to get an 'OK' signal like you do with analog, it will give you NOTHING if you don't have it tuned in 100%, so there will be lots of problems with that for a lot of people). Also, despite the $40 coupons given out by the government, which some people are having a hard time getting ahold of (they were supposed to be EASY to procure), the converter boxes cost more than that, so it still requires an outlay of money from people who can least afford it (people who probably get TV through an antenna not by choice, but because they can't afford satellite or cable).
Then there's the environmental factor - where are all those old TV's that people are throwing out in order to upgrade for the conversion going to go? Landfills? Shady 'electronic waste disposal companies' that merely ship the toxic crap overseas so somebody in China can get mercury or lead poisoning? Nice. Good work, US government.
There are other downsides (what, exactly, are the upsides, by the way? I'd really like to know? Better reception? Than what?). Radios that have 'TV band' reception (we have one, they're nice to have, especially in a storm) will now be un-usable, at least the 'TV band' part. Nice. So will all portable TV's (battery-powered and such - a lot of people own them for emergencies...now, tough luck).
Lots of old folks and poor people won't get the word about the converter boxes or won't know how to install them and may even find themselves out of the loop if a major national emergency occurs. Good work, Congress. Way to think ahead. Not like we have any situations in the world that might cause a national emergency in the next few years. You know, luckily there's no impending economic collapse, terrorism, or extreme weather to ever worry about, right?
From purely a quality of life perspective, a lot of those same disadvantaged demographic groups will just cease to be able to watch any television. OK, it might do some people a world of good not to have to view most of the utter crap that passes for entertainment on the broadcast networks these days, but still....is it right to take that away? To date, a piss-poor job of educating the public on this has been done, and now it's too little, too late. A lot of people will simply be left in the dark in February of 2009 - but who cares about them, right? They're just old and/or poor and/or immigrants. OK, maybe it's not the end of the world if they can't watch Survivor, but what if they miss out on important instructions in a national emergency because of this wrong-headed debacle of a boondoggle?
Again, was analog TV 'broke'? Then why 'fix' it? Way beyond stupid. Way.
ps. Oh, and one more thing....is the middle of serious recession a good time to effect an unnecessary and counterproductive change like this? Especially one that requires the poorest members of our society, who are likely hurting the most from the current economic squeeze, to lay out money? I realize that the switch to digital was approved before the economy headed straight for the toilet, but couldn't it have been postponed? Couldn't it still be postponed in light of recent events and perhaps a reckoning with sanity?