The chief rationale for the nation's transition to digital television is high-definition television, a transmission standard that contains as much as six times more data as conventional TV signals and at least twice the picture resolution. While many in the adult industry have touted high-def content offerings, the market has yet to take off due to the technology’s infancy and the relative small number of consumers who currently own HDTVs.
The House had originally proposed a Dec. 31, 2008, all-digital deadline, but pushed the date back two months after a compromise with the Senate.
Roughly $1.5 billion was allocated with the legislation to help ensure consumers with older, analog TV sets would be able to watch digital broadcasts when the conversion takes effect. Although the switch will not impact existing cable and satellite customers — both systems already are digital — an estimated 21 million households that rely on free, over-the-air broadcasts will be affected.
Several senators, apparently avid sports fans worried about slow adoption, had argued the deadline should not come until sometime in April 2009, following the March Madness college basketball playoffs.
With the bill comes $990 million for the affected households to purchase the converter boxes necessary to view the digital broadcasts, with the additional $500 million set aside for unforeseen additional expenses.
Once the conversion has taken place, the entire communications spectrum currently used to broadcast analog TV will be freed up, some of which the government plans to use to improve fire and police channels, as well as other emergency services.
The rest of the spectrum will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, which some estimates predict will net upwards of $30 billion.
