For a while there, people were in a frenzy. While some people didn't even think twice about the impending DTV transition, some people were downright confused as to the purpose of the transition and what they needed to do to ensure that they would continue receiving programming to their TV sets. People were quite confused and inconvenienced by the recent digital television transition, although the switch promised to bring viewers better picture and audio quality.
The original transition date was set for January 17, 2009. The start of the new year, however, looked somewhat grim as a few million households were still unprepared for the change. To make matters worse, the economy wasn't doing too hot either. Since the fall of 2008, the unemployment rate declined steadily, and consumers were worried about making any unnecessary purchases.
The switch may have inconvenienced some, but the benefits far outweigh the bad in this case. For one, freeing up the TV frequencies gives more room for emergency and rescue squads and fire and police departments to communicate over these frequencies. In addition, some of these freed up frequencies are to be sold to companies that can offer broadband services to customers. In a day and age where being connected for personal, work, and school reasons is a must, these broadband services have proven to be beneficial.
Anyone who was already a subscriber to cable and satellite service was hardly affected by the transition, if at all. To keep subscribers happy, these companies will make sure that they do everything on their end to ensure that the viewers keep watching their favorite programming uninterrupted. The most any subscriber probably had to do was call their company to request a different type of receiver so that they can receive digital channels on their analog TVs.
If anything, the antenna users got hit the hardest and probably were the most confused. If the antenna user did not own a TV with a built-in digital receiver of some sort, then they had to purchase a converter box. Although relatively inexpensive, it, again, could not have come at a worst time because of the economy. Thankfully, a voucher program was enforced and required but a small investment on the antenna user's part.
All in all, the benefits are being reaped by TV viewers. Better video and audio quality coupled with HD channels are some things definitely worth raving about.
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