[mythtv-users] DTV: It Has Begun

[Brian Wood]

Allen Edwards wrote:

> At some point, the government realizes that they could cram all the
> stations into less spectrum with the new format and sell off the parts
> that were better used by other services.  I think that came later.

It's not really "cramming" them into less spectrum, it was the idea of
moving everyone to UHF, where there is more space (there are more big
numbers than smaller ones). The actual bandwidth used stayed the same,
though you could argue it is being used more efficiently.

UHF had been a hard sell in the US ever since its inception. The cost of
operating a UHF transmitter was higher than VHF (especially the power
costs), and the coverage was not as good. Many consumers did not have
decent UHF antennas (though cable made that less of a problem). This all
combined to put UHF broadcasters at a disadvantage, both real and perceived.

The result was that UHF was under-utilized, broadcasters would build a
UHF rig only if they had no other option. The government decided to move
everyone to UHF (well, almost everyone) so they could share the misery,
and they could sell off the valuable VHF spectrum.

beww