[mythtv-users] US to postpone analog TV death

[Marc Randolph]

On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 11:41 PM, David Brodbeck <gull at gull.us> wrote:
> Brian Wood wrote:
>>
>> Perhaps true, but in the long run this drawn-out saga would probably be
>> cheaper i the long run if the government just bought satellite service for
>> these folks. How many can there be?
>>
>
> Hopefully not many...they would be mostly in sparsely-populated areas.  It's
> unfortunate that these are the same areas that aren't served by cable TV, of
> course.

The number will floor you - or at least, it did me: I heard on the
radio that, according to Nielsen Media Research, the PBS (Public
Broadcasting Service) stands to lose ~17% of their audience with the
switch to digital.  I came away with the impression that this is
mostly due to a lack of equipment (converter box or TV with digital
tuner).  Regardless, too many other things are depending on this
switch (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28818654/), and I'm unconvinced
that four more months would produce meaningfully different results.
It needs to continue on schedule and the public can re-obtain coupons
in parallel.

   Marc