DTV is here - RIP Analog TV, kinda

Finally, the day has come. Analog TV is gone, except for LPTV. Totally makes sense right. Force everyone to change to digital except for those local low power stations. I don't think I've ever tuned into one or have the need to. I'm sure anyone who tunes to LPTV still made the digital transition since everything else changed. Good job FCC. Way to go all the way and fall an inch short.

For the sake of keeping the rest of this post sane, we're going to assume analog tv is gone. Now what do we do? Well for those who escaped the grasp of the cable companies, they're on the all digital bandwagon. TV is broadcast up to 1080i without having to buy a digital package. Yes this is a jab at the cable companies. Cable companies usually give you the broadcast channels over HD for free, but don't market it.

On top of that, cable isn't affected by the DTV transition. The digital signals they get from the broadcast companies will be downconverted to analog. Honestly, I feel that's an unfair advantage. A) get a digital box for OTA DTV from a company you've never heard of (and priced just barely above $40 to get the full value of the government voucher program) or B) subscribe to cable tv.

I get yelled at when I bring that up. If cable companies were forced to go digital, everyone would be forced to get a box. My response: OK!  For YEARS cable companies have been screwing with consumers. Force them to get boxes for more channels. Since you screwed customers by creating a box monopoly, cablecards were brought to life. I personally invested around 1000 USD in a CableCard system. How many United States citizens to you know who have cable and do not have a digital box from their cable provider in their home? Very few! Sure there are some that would get screwed by a digital cable transition, but much less than the OTA digital transition.

On top of that, since they're paying subscribers, there already is a support network setup.

Yes, I've gone on another rant, but isn't that what you've come to except by this point?