RSSBill Gates: I Want My DTV
By Nate Mook | Published October 14, 2005, 1:18 PM
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates joined fellow industry leaders Friday including Dell, Intel and Cisco in asking Congress to speed up the transition to digital television and open up the radio spectrum currently used by TV for wireless broadband services.
In a letter to United States lawmakers, the High Tech DTV Coalition said that freeing the spectrum would give more opportunity for technology companies to roll out services in rural and poor areas. Certain parts of the spectrum would be provided to first-responders, while the rest is auctioned off.
Congress previously established that television must go all-digital by the time 85 percent of consumers have the ability to receive the signals. However, such numbers are near impossible to quantify, leading to a push for a hard cut-off in either late 2008 or mid-2009.
"New and innovative technologies that will help meet the goal of universal, affordable broadband access are already being developed and readied for early deployment in this spectrum," the group said in its letter.
In a previous letter sent earlier this year, the coalition explained that, "Adding certainty to the transition process is the key to fulfilling the economic and public welfare benefits of the transition. Certainty will allow the U.S. high-tech industry to secure the investment and develop the business plans required to deploy wireless broadband services in the 700 MHz band."
The High Tech DTV Coalition is asking for the switch to take place no later than January 1, 2009.
i want my dtv....this article has been exceptionally good and should be continued in future too thanks
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|In reference to the above article, my opinion would be that the Broadband Services should reach the rural and remote areas which should be the top most criteria, as it will difinitely help in Global development. Broadband as we all know is universally famous due to it's excellent service. So the idea of DTV would be really great to bring in this revolution.
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|Over the air is how I get my digital signal. Hooked my HDTV up to that old 1980's antenna on the roof to get my HD signal so I can watch the Simpsons in HD. But then I do ONLY get like 15 channels in digital.
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|Yesterday would have been fine with me. Does anyone still use over-the-air? Sheesh...
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|Unfortunately some rural communities with very low population don't have cable services and can't afford Sattellite. I used to work at Walmart and we did sell quite a few of those antennas.
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|Yes, in fact. I do. My family simply does not watch enough television to warrant spending *any* money on it, other than the 2nd hand television we currently have.
Dropping over-the-air will not hurt, seeing as how we'll just use the VCR and throw the antennae, so I'm not too worried.
I haven't seen a good TV show, aside from LOST, since Babylon 5, and I don't expect to from the lastest round of utter crap (also known as series premiers).
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|lmao...bought one at the local "Wally-world" about 2 weeks ago when a storm blew out our old one. Which is odd, considering it was not amplified (not plugged into anything).
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|Well, with this act, there will be 'converter' boxes to take the digital signal and convert it for the TV itself. Also, 'old style' antennas work for digital signals too.
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|Heh, I was just going to mention Lost aswell. I get 7 or 8 channels where I am in Canada, but hey - they're free. All the good shows eventually come onto them anyway, and if they don't(or I miss them) I can always torrent them.
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