The Digital Transition

It’s here and it’s not going anywhere. The digital transition that took place in June of 2009 is up and running. Right now you might think there’s no difference, that the DTV transition was some annoying mandate that forced you to go out and buy a silly box just so you can continue to watch “So You Think You Can Dance” every Wednesday night. But it’s more than that; DTV has the potential to change the way that Americans watch television.

With a barrage of commercials from cable providers warning us about preparing for the digital transmission, there really doesn’t seem to be much of a difference. According to the Progress and Freedom Foundation, over 80% of Americans subscribe to either a cable or satellite service which means that most of the United States hasn’t been directly affected by the digital transition.

So, what does this transition mean to the 20% of America that is does directly effect? To answer this I went directly to the source, my television. According to the DTV website, the digital transition will bring a better quality of picture and audio to your television viewing experience, but when I when I sat down to watch television I didn’t really notice a difference. It looked almost exactly the same.

Alright, so the picture and audio quality didn’t quite meet my expectations. However, I did notice that there are several more channels available to watch. Instead of just ABC there’s two or three ABC channels broadcasting different programming, giving non-cable subscribers a larger choice of programming to watch. It also occurred to me that if this box can funnel a few extra stations to my television what else could it do?

DTV has the potential to bring free television programming to a variety of devices that can make television viewing much more portable and convenient. Someday in the future people could be viewing television programming on their cell phones or portable video gaming systems. This technology affects more than just the 20% of American’s without cable; it affects everyone. Now that DTV is here to stay there’s no telling what new technology will follow, but it’s exciting to think about what could come.

By Katelyn Pavloff
Revolution IPTV

pavloff@revolutioniptv.com
www.revolutioniptv.com