DTV Transition - One Year Later

commodore64_love writes "One year has passed since NTSC-analog television died (R.I.P. 6/12/09 — aged 68 years), and the new ATSC-digital television became standard. According to Retrovo, the transition had some successes and failures. Retailers saw this as an opportunity to sell new HDTVs and 46 million converter boxes, while cable providers advertised rates as low as $10/month. One-third of the converter boxes the US subsidized — approximately 600 million dollars worth — were never used by purchasers. Overall 51% of Americans felt the DTV transition was good, while 23% said it was not. 12% of respondents report that since the switch they have worse reception. Others received better reception, gaining 24-hour movie channels, retro channels, foreign programming, and other new networks that had not existed under the old analog system."

Comments

Re:TV, what's that?

[Temujin_12]

What's this "TV" thing you speak of? Oh, right: the screen for the game consoles!

Exactly. My family has been going on almost 2 years of no live TV (cable or broadcast). Between Netflix (with watch instantly), Hulu, various network websites with full-episodes, public libraries, etc. I don't see much reason to pay for cable or even a DTV receiver.

Case in point, I recently discovered an highly acclaimed anime "5 cm per Second" so I went to my usual resources to watch it. Netflix? Nope. Hulu? Nope. Amazon/Ebay? Way too expensive. Turns out that movie is out of print (it only came out recently too), so it is pretty much a collector's item. So, I searched local libraries and 6 out of the 10 I searched had it. One library card later, I've now LEGITIMATELY WATCHED IT FOR FREE (great movie by the way). I'd forgotten how good a resource the library could be.

Yup, for some of the shows we like that aren't available to stream online we're a season behind. However, they are no less enjoyable watching them when the DVDs come out than when they first aired.

Fortunately, I could care less about watching professional sports (way too many overpaid inane athletes in that arena anyways). So that is a problem I don't have to worry about.

Seriously though, the live/broadcast TV paradigm in the 21st century simply won't have near the same place it has had in the 20th century (if it has any place at all).