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Digital TV: Congress vs. Consumers
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 12:59:00 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 09:31:57 -0800 To: <dave () farber net> Cc: <lauren () vortex com> Subject: Digital TV: Congress vs. Consumers Dave, As we've discussed in the past -- and nothing has changed in this respect -- Congress is setting themselves up for a remarkable fall if they try to force digital TV down consumers' throats. People in this country will put up with a lot of garbage from their elected officials, but you screw around with their television (or their pets) at your own peril. Even the oft-quoted statistics about digital television penetration are suspect. We hear that "only 15%" of consumers receive TV via broadcast vs. cable or satellite., or that some percentage of households own a digital TV in any given city. But what is frequently ignored is that even a home on cable or satellite may have only one or two sets wired, and have other smaller sets around the house hooked to a roof or set-top antenna. Yes, rabbit-ear antennas in use -- I see them all the time in houses right here in L.A. Even families who have sprung for one big-screen digital TV will usually have ordinary analog sets in other rooms, often hooked to antennas. The upcoming digital tuner mandate only applies to larger screen sizes. Bottom line: There are vast seas of analog televisions in use within the U.S. that depend on analog broadcast signals. Many more are purchased every day -- both large and small sets. No government money is available to help subsidize people to obtain digital televisions (as was once being talked about, however looney the idea always was). If Congress attempts to rapidly obsolete their constituents' investments in analog televisions receiving analog broadcasts, the residents of both the House and Senate are likely to find that there's more than one "third-rail" in politics that leads to voter backlash. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- Digital TV: Congress vs. Consumers David Farber (Feb 08)