Digital television (DTV) refers to sending or receiving images and sound with discrete (digital) signals, instead of the analog signals currently used in broadcasting.
Beginning on October 1, 2006, along with other appropriations, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will borrow $1.5 billion from the Treasury. The loan implements the $40 coupons consumers will hear so much about in upcoming months. (see text box at the bottom of this article for specific economic details)
Will $40, which offsets purchase of a $70 piece of equipment, also defray ALL the expense consumers will bear?In a perfect world, digital television is more flexible and efficient than analog television.
When properly used by broadcasters, DTV indeed offers high quality images and sound; but with current quality so high, will enhancements in imagery truly translate into obvious improvements? For example, although proponents of DTV revel in its technical potential, digital signals will not necessarily provide higher-quality than analog signals do now.
Ultimately, the quality you receive will be left up to the owners of corporate media.
Introduced in the late 1990s, digital technology appeals to the television broadcasting industry and consumer electronic businesses, because it offers a wide variety of new financial opportunities.DTV provides these corporations numerous economic advantages over analog TV, the most significant being that digital channels take up less bandwidth. Bandwidth needs will vary, as the cost of image quality also fluctuates. This means that digital broadcasters can provide more channels in the same space and provide other non-television services such as multimedia interactivity.
DTV may also permit special services, including the multiplexing of signals. With multiplexing current convention allows the bandwidth of a DTV channel to be divided into multiple sub-channels, providing several different programming feeds on the same channel.
Reducing the bandwidth needs of stations frees up airways for police and other government agencies but does not necessarily insure better quality.
A broadcaster may opt to use a standard-definition digital signal instead of a new type of HDTV signal. Not only does DTV obsolete current High-Definition TV, it may also affect other technologies. Proposed digital technology features an ATSC tuner. If the new TVs contain only ATSC tuners, they will prevent VCRs, video games and other devices with analog RF outputs from connecting to televisions.
DTV will lack the reach of current television broadcasts. Consumers currently in range of local television broadcasts will receive diminished quality or no signal at all. For rural locations, distant analog channels that were previously acceptable in a diminished state will become unavailable.According to Tony Wilham at the Commerce Department, standard TV will soon require new equipment offered at “Wal-mart. Best Buy and Radio Shack.” He claims the DTV will affect “13 Million TV viewers” but its impact goes far beyond standard television equipment. Older, handheld televisions, which rely on over-the-air signals, and battery operation, will become useless, since the proposed converter boxes are not portable, nor powered with batteries. Common radio will lose the ability for commuters to listen to select TV broadcasts. Portable radios which currently feature an ability to listen to a variety of television audio on VHF channels will also become obsolete.
Backed up with the force of law under the WIPO Copyright Treaty and other national legislation, digital signals will carry encryption codes, which specify use conditions, such as "may not be recorded" or "may not be viewed on displays larger than 1 m in diagonal measure.”
Digital TV picture technology is still in its early stages.
DTV currently has picture defects that are not present in analog television, due to bandwidth limitations and compression algorithms.
When a compressed digital image is compared with the original program source, some hard-to-compress images are distorted. These distortions include:
quantization noise,
incorrect color,
blockiness,
a blurred, shimmering haze.
The very nature of digital receiving equipment can result in a rapid failure to generate viewable programming. With analog signals, factors such as poor antenna connections, electromagnetic interference or worsening weather may gradually fade pictures, as the quality slowly degrades. Conversely, weather and other factors cause digital signals to essentially fall off a cliff. This effect is known as the digital cliff or cliff effect. 
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Telecommunications and Information Administration SUMMARY: In this document, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) adopts regulations to implement and administer a coupon program for digital-to-analog converter boxes. This rule implements provisions of section 3005 of Public Law 109-171, known as the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. This action amends 47 C.F.R. Chapter III by adding part 301.
The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (the Act), among other things, directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasting and to broadcast solely digital transmissions after February 17, 2009. The returned analog television spectrum is to be auctioned, and the Act directs the FCC to deposit receipts from that auction into a new Treasury Fund to be known as the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Fund (the Fund).
Recognizing that consumers may wish to continue receiving broadcast programming over the air using analog-only televisions not connected to cable or satellite service, the Act authorizes NTIA to create a digital-to-analog converter box assistance program (Coupon Program). Specifically, Section 3005 of the Act directs NTIA to implement and administer a program through which eligible U.S. households may obtain via the United States Postal Service a maximum of two coupons of $40 each to be applied toward the purchase of a Coupon-Eligible Converter Box (CECB). To implement the Coupon Program, the Act authorizes NTIA to use up to $990 million from the Fund for the program, including up to $100 million for program administration (Initial Funds).< 4 > A contingent level of $510 million in additional funds is authorized upon a 60-day notice and certification to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate that the initial funding level is insufficient to fulfill coupon requests for eligible U.S. households (Contingent Funds).< 5 > NTIA is, therefore, authorized to expend up to a total of $1.5 billion for the program, including up to $160 million for administration. Assuming the entire administrative amount is taken into account, $1.34 billion would be available for distributing up to 33.5 million coupons. This section also authorizes NTIA, beginning on October 1, 2006, to borrow not more than $1.5 billion from the Treasury to implement the program. NTIA must reimburse the Treasury for this amount, without interest, as recovered analog television spectrum auction proceeds are deposited into the Fund.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/frnotices/2007/DTVFinalRule_031207.htm Friedrich Nietzsche writes, “If you gaze too long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you.” Ultimately, US consumers will soon teeter on the brink of another kind of cliff effect. Will corporate media once again be the catalyst that pushes society into the “abyss?”Sources include; wikipedia and an interview with Tony Wilham on corporate media giant, ClearChannel Radio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_television
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