No more Analog TV...

I think it's ridiculous and as always they just toss aside those that cannot afford luxury items. It seems if you're poor in the US you're a 2nd class citizen. I for one just recently started purchasing cable. Before that I really had no need other then my sports, which I could live without. It was really a matter of why spend the extra money. What will those that have to decide between cable/dish or meals do? If they're old and stuck indoors how will they afford entertainment? Many can barely feed themselves and pay for medication let alone add on a bill to watch tv. I for one think it's a horrible thing and I think someone should do something about it.

We have already switched to satellite tv. My heart goes out to those who cannot afford cable and/or satellite. I work with the chronially mentally ill 2 days a week. They live on a very small budget (SSI) and can barely stretch it to cover BASIC living expenses after they pay for the medications. They will probably not be able to have TV now...and then they will have nothing to occupy their time. These folks are prisoners in their homes/aprtments until someone picks them up in a van and takes them to the adult mental health daytreatment program. My heart aches for them. TV was their only entertainment.

This Federal Government is just too intrusive. They need to worry about the 45 millions Americans without health insurance. I've even heard that some people will have to get new television sets. If my Satellite service raise their price because of this, I'll just subscribe to their basic service. I'm not going to pay $1200 a year to watch television. Lloyd

This doesn't surprise me, as the federal government wants people to do without or spend more money. Some of my friends don't watch television at all, so this won't affect them, as several have told me there isn't anything on to watch. Many people have cable television like me or a satellite dish like my parents. My brother, who rarely watches television mentioned to me today, if there is a special show that airs on television that he would like to see, then he will have somebody tape it for him or visit a house with a television set. I can already hear the telephone ringing, as several of my friends enjoy watching one show and we all know where they will be when the show airs. I may need another couch.

I think that is really harsh from the part of the government. I don't think all the people would be equipped with the digital variant, and they are really going to suffer. How if there is some kind of add on component available that would map the digital content to analog and feed it to your old Television? That could solve the issue right? But, it should be priced reasonably though.

They've done there here in Canada as well and it's hard.My cable bill went from $46.00 a month for basic cable to $98.00 for digital.....when you live on a budget,you just can't afford it and have to cut back on others if you want it.....I am so sick of the Government telling us how we should live.....now they're telling us what kind of TV we can have in our homes.....affordable or not!

here in sweden many places are already cutoff and all digital. It will be a bit more expensive but not much. I wish that they would not charge u at all though. So many people are already struggeling with finances and this will maek it worse for them!

I don't know what this means. We have cable tv, but my tv is at least 20 years old. Does that mean, I need a new tv or I won't be able to receive the tv signals?

It won't affect us that much. We've had satellite for quite a few years. I grew up with one of those BIG dishes and then when they moved to the small dishes we had one of those. I do feel for those who can't afford television. A lot of older people only watch those basic channels and now at the least they will have to pay 40.00 to watch the news....sad!

Well maybe by then I'll be able to afford a new t.v. Mine is one of those huge RCA swivel consel t.v.'s. I have basic satellite now, but if we can't afford it we will do without. Which means I'll miss seeing my races ggrr

I live in Canada and we do not have such a legislation yet here. I switched to digital TV 5 years ago. I still have analog TV on one of my sets though. when you go digital, it is very hard to switch back.

I believe the plan will change, unless prices have come down to a point where switching isn't a hardship. It's a no-win situation for politicians.

ya ur right friend...

I think most people won't be affected too much. They will be able to continue to use their analog TV sets, but they will have to buy a digital to analog converter. Here's what a December 2005 article on C/Net news.com (at http://news.com.com/Digital+TV+switch+set+for+early+2009/2100-1028_3-6004429.html) says: "Short of buying a new digital-ready television, they can opt for a digital-to-analog converter box, which manufacturers estimate will cost about $50 by 2009." The article goes on to mention that congress plans to make subsidies available that would cover most of this cost for those who cannot afford it.

We already have digital here in Canada. We pay over $100 a month for combination cable, internet, and phone bill. We used to get the big dish, and found that it cost the same amount, only with the latter, we got the solar flares and sometimes we had to move the dish every which way to get to see the stations we wanted. I would have preferred that we would be allowed some more US Stations with US commercials, but our regulatory company CRTC loves to play God and decides what is best for us, although now with HDTV and the High Definition Channels we get the US Commercials.

Good Developement

Sometimes it seems our government is no longer for the people, but for a few select. What this world coming to . Just like I've heard a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold.

Is this some sort of sick joke? If not then this is bad. That would leave people who are in a budget to not have any local channels. What a shame it is.