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FCC Says Analog TV Lives Until 2012

Posted by samzenpus on from the and-flip-books-for-another-5-years dept.

walterbays writes ""The FCC voted 5-0 to require that cable operators must continue to make all local broadcasts available to their users, even those with analog televisions." I don't understand how AT&T manages to deliver U-verse without any analog channels. Did they get it classified as not-cable and exempt from existing rules? Or as a result of this vote, will they suddenly have to drop 50 SD channels to make room for 5 NTSC channels?"

5 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. The digital TV switch isn't going to happen by AuMatar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been arguing it here for years- we aren't going to switch to digital TVs anytime in the next 5 years. Too many people still only have analog TVs. Watch them decide to push back the OTA deadline next. Until analog only TVs are under 5% of the install base, they won't make that move.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    1. Re:The digital TV switch isn't going to happen by mrchaotica · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you subscribe to cable you normally have a set-top box that can take either analogue or digital.

      No, in my experience you normally have a "cable-ready" analog TV and just plug the coax straight into the back of it, which is the way it's supposed to be. Then you just use the normal remote that came with the TV to tune to channels.

      The last thing I want is a damn extra box with an extra remote with extra cords and extra complexity and extra frustration!

      Hell, you know what? With all this fucked-up DRM and CableCard and incompatible whoozits and whatzits and bullshit, digital TV doesn't work the way it's supposed to (see above for my definition of "supposed to") anyway! Maybe once they drop the damn DRM entirely and just let the TV plug directly into the wall, then digital TV will be ready for prime-time. Until then, it's not!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  2. What does this have to do with AT&T? by BronsCon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, I would love to know what this has to do with AT&T. Of course U-Verse was declared not to be cable, since it isn't cable. How is this relavent in the context of the article? A non-cable television service doesn't have to follow the same rules as a cable television service? What a shocker!

    Mod me as you will, but you know you're thinking the same thing.

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  3. Welcome to the Dark Ages by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This comitment to analog technology is just as much a problem for cell phones as for TV. This desire to keep the old stuff going is what keeps USA in the cellphone middle ages.

    The only way to really get up to date is to have the balls to dump the past.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
    1. Re:Welcome to the Dark Ages by dr_blurb · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > There are over 85 million GSM subscribers in the US, more than any country in Western Europe.

      Now there's a good argument. 85 million is more than any country in Western Europe,
      because there are no countries in Western Europe with that many people. You probably
      think the US has the biggest broadband uptake in the world as well? Percentages, anyone?