Digital TV: Congress vs. Consumers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ 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/