Word: hdtv
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...idea behind the giveaway was that the new channels would be used to provide high-definition television (HDTV), which features razor-sharp pictures and CD-quality sound, as well as a host of other digital services. Broadcasters argued that without getting the channels for free, they could never afford to develop HDTV. And, they emphasized, it was only a loan: by 2006, the rollout of digital TV would be complete, and they would give back their old analog channel space. Fair enough, perhaps, if seeing Dan Rather's pores clearly is worth $70 billion to the nation...
...turns out that the promise of HDTV may have been just a ruse. Each month, in surreptitious ways, the handout to the broadcasters becomes more egregious, which is unsurprising, given their lobbying clout with Congress--$7 million worth in the past two years. A clause buried in this summer's balanced-budget act, pushed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Trent Lott, allows stations to keep both their old and new channel space beyond 2006 as long as 15% of households in their markets are still using analog sets. And ABC president Preston Padden has disclosed that his network...
...second theory points to HDTV. Last week the fcc approved HDTV guidelines that will make today's TV obsolete by 2006, forcing some 100 million consumers to upgrade to digital idiot boxes. Since each TV will include a Web browser and E-mail, the PC industry is worried about a slide in demand. Microsoft wants to make dead certain that if HDTV dominates the market for operating systems, the system you will be using is its--even if that means using Windows to watch Seinfeld instead of MS Word...
...Well, neither cable nor DBS yet possesses digital capability, so when HDTV is offered two years from now, those slacker 30% of U.S. households that still get only over-the-air, rabbit-ears TV will, ironically, end up ahead of the technology curve...
...digital traffic--although the additional bandwidth will cut into the number of channels they can offer--while cable services like HBO retool to produce digital shows. A few years hence, your local cable or satellite guy will start offering, alongside the usual 60 analog channels, a tier of scintillating HDTV programming, with brilliant color and sound...