What is the Digital Television Transition?

The digital television transition is the gradual switch from the old style analog television signals to the newer digital television signals.

Back in the late 1990's Congress passed a law stating that in February of 2009 all full-power television stations in the U.S.A would be required to switch to a fully digital television signal. This means that these stations will no longer broadcast simultaneously in both digital and analog but will now broadcast in only digital.

So what? No more analog TV signals... What the big deal with that?

The big deal is that millions and millions of Americans TVs will go fuzzy on February 17th, 2009 because they are not equipped to run off of digital TV signals. For anyone that bought a TV before 2004 there is a very high likely hood that your TV will not work after the transition. If your TV does not have a digital tuner then it will no longer work unless you subscribe to cable, satellite (dish TV or Direct TV), or get a digital converter box.

Digital converter boxes cost about $50 right now and can be purchased for just over $10 if you get one of the government issued converter box coupons. These coupons can be used at most major electronics retailers and allow you to get $40 off the purchase of your dtv converter box.

The DTV transition will allow consumers to get digital TV on for all television stations and will provide them with a few benefits including a better picture, better sound quality, and more programming options.

The initial costs of the transition will be somewhat expensive for consumers but overall I think that the benefits outweigh these, especially since the government will be picking up most of the costs themselves.

For more information about a digital TV converter you can visit the governments http://dtv2009.gov/ website or this TV converter box reviews page.