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Feds to Require Digital Receivers In All New TVs?

Posted by michael on from the you'll-pay-and-you'll-like-it dept.

jonerik writes "According to this article in USA Today, the FCC is expected next week to require all new TV sets to include digital receivers by 2006. TV manufacturers are balking at the requirement, which they say would increase the price of new TVs by about $200. The National Association of Broadcasters counters that their study shows that the price increase would be half that, and would decrease to about $15 by 2006. The government, eager to sell off the TV broadcast spectrum to wireless carriers, is between a rock and a hard place, with sales of HDTVs slower than expected, broadcasters and cable systems not exactly jumping at the bit to take on the cost of reconfiguring for digital broadcasts, and a public that seems pretty satisfied with traditional analog TVs."

3 of 538 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Set-top box by cjpez · · Score: 2, Redundant
    No. You will buy a $99 (maybe even less) box that sits on top of your TV
    Yes! That's the answer! Buy! Buy, buy, buy! Spend more money! Your government mandates it! Consume! Use up resources! Your life is meaningless without things! Surely this is the easy way out we've been hoping for! Give me your products, government!
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    Al Qaeda has ninjas!
  2. Fight the Power! by FFFish · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Don't bother upgrading your television. There's nothing worth watching anyway. Instead, do something better: take up mountain biking, have more sex, go for a walk, join a bowling team, whatever.

    Well, maybe not the bowling team, but the others are good.

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    Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
  3. Re:Old tvs by |Cozmo| · · Score: 0, Redundant

    step 1) require digital tuners in all new tvs
    step 2)
    step 3) profit!