As I was contemplating the 1.2 trillion spent on Iraq, the pending shortfalls in Medicare and Social Security, and the challenges of global warming, a thought entered my head. "What America really needs is a better TV viewing experience - and someone should make a law..."
Well, they did. Thanks to extensive lobbying from high-definition TV manufacturers and other digital device peddlers, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Department of Commerce is setting aside $1,000,000,000 - a billion dollars - to help people comply with the mandatory switch to digital TV broadcasting on February 19, 2009.
What's good about it?
There is one important reason that government has stepped in: when TV goes digital-only in 2009, all of the analog broadcast spectrum currently used for TV becomes government property again. This spectrum can be used for emergency services or "advanced wireless services" such as wireless broadband internet. For the latter use, the government can auction off the spectrum and collect revenue for the use of the airwaves, which were initially given out for free.
The other side: So much for free markets
Remember when you had a great cassette tape collection and they came out with CDs? Well, the CDs seemed so much better that you bought a lot of your music again to update your collection. Pretty soon all we had were CD players. Same happened with VHS tapes. When is the last time you rented a tape at Blockbuster? And remember how the government stepped in to make sure that people bought these technological improvements?
Right, they didn't. Because what kind of TV you have is a market decision. Enough people thought CDs were better than tapes and DVDs were better than VHS.
The other side 2: Digital is not always better
I'm becoming a Neanderthal about new technology, but many people didn't realize that better picture and sound aren't given for free (try fast forwarding that FBI warning on a DVD player). With digital TV, advertisers might not let us skip ads anymore and programmers might not let us record. Not to mention there's the ugly question of where Americans are going to dispose of 33-65 million analog TV sets that rely on over-the-air signals, each of which contains 4-6 pounds of lead.
What would you buy with a billion dollars?
2 comments:
It's a tough choice with so many Americans with no health care and money needed for public schools BUT if we want to stick to technology issues, I would spend the money on subsidizing high speed, affordable internet for all. For health, education, politics, jobs -- high speed internet is much more a necessity than digital TV and too many Americans don't have it. Other countries have broadband policies that provide incentives for build-out and require universal service. We should too. See www.speedmatters.org.
I would buy myself more money!
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