Analog Cut-Off Date Approved by Congress

TWICE magazine is reporting that the United States House of Representatives passed the bill that sets a hard date for the complete transition from analog to digital within the television broadcast industry. The date is February 17, 2009. For those keeping score, the vote passed 216-214.

My Thoughts: Let the confusion begin. This vote already passed in the Senate and now only needs The President sign it to become official. By confusion, I mean the numerous inferences to digital television (DTV) by TV manufacturers, cable companies and satellite providers. But, the reality is that this digital mandate only affects broadcast stations operating in the United States. While cable companies would like you to subscribe to their digital package, they are not part of the bill passed today.

No one knows for sure what will happen within the cable industry once analog broadcast TV ceases. It could change everything or nothing for cable. As for satellite, it will do nothing because satellite is already a digital signal...only most of the boxes are digital-to-analog converters, which means most people watch an analog version of the digital signal.