Better TV is coming, but are you ready for it?

[Ladywriter 7,783]

Behind the placid pictures, a made-for-TV storm is looming.

Since the first days of television, the method of beaming pictures into our living rooms hasn’t changed much. But on Feb. 17, 2009, television stations across the country will hit the off button on this time-tested technology and switch to new transmitters, sending computerized digital signals through the air.

When the change comes, the estimated 30 million televisions that use traditional antennas will go to snow without a digital converter box. The cable industry is spending $200 million to educate customers, and Congress has set aside $1.5 billion to help subsidize the purchase of converter boxes.

Still, half of American viewers don’t know the storm is coming, according to a poll conducted last month by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. For the 1 in 5 American households that still use rabbit ears or antennas on the roof, “the day of reckoning is coming,” said Barry Umansky, a communications professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22401907/

the day of reckoning X'D

I had to share this cuz I think we all know somebody ( a friend in college or a relative out in the middle of nowhere ) who doesn't have cable tv

[Dubird 6,815]

I knew about it, but I'm not worried about it. I'll save up and get a new tv by next Feb.

[Pchan 5,162]

Why need a tv when you've got anime X'D! I've survived a year in the US without a tv set

[Myk JL 1,731]

I have have a cable box, but if my cable went out I'd cancel my all in one bill then just get phone & Internet... But if it only affects those old antennas... meh... The picture was always fuzzy before we got satellite.

[gokuDX7 2,871]

Internet TV time! The people that cant afford both basic cable and Internet should just get Internet and take a visit to a few of the free online TV sites (search google for TV online or online tv).

[Myk JL 1,731]

Internet TV time! The people that cant afford both basic cable and Internet should just get Internet and take a visit to a few of the free online TV sites (search google for TV online or online tv).

I'd do that... maybe... if it wasn't for being locked in to my current All In One...