Why are all television signals going digital?

By February 17th, all television transmissions will have to be digital. Those television viewers who don’t have digital televisions will have to get a special converter box so the digital signal can be converted from digital back to analog.

I was thinking about this the other day and was a bit indignant as to why the US government felt compelled to get involved in something like this. I knew the answer was all about money but I didn’t have the details. After a little googling this morning, I have my answer:

Broadcast signals travel over the electromagnetic spectrum, which carries all sorts of transmissions, including AM and FM radio, shortwave radio, radar and television, explained Duke University professor Stuart Benjamin.

Analog TV signals occupy a big chunk of the spectrum. Digital television, which also is broadcast through the air, occupies about 25 percent less space on the spectrum than analog — and offers more services.

“The digital signal is more concise,” said Megan Pollack, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Electronics Association. “It’s a crisp signal and also has the ability to be high-definition with surround-sound encoded into it. It has the ability to be smarter, so it has more functions.”

With the switch to digital, the space freed up by the unused analog signals will be returned to the federal government and auctioned off to new providers and services, according to Brian Dietz, a spokesman for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

The analog space — owned by the federal government and leased to TV stations through license fees — is considered the “beachfront property” of the spectrum worth several billion dollars, Benjamin said.

Yep. It’s all about money. Just follow the money.

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