http://www.slate.com/?id=2071935 [Slate Magazine; Money For Nothing by Thomas Hazlett]
"...the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962 rescued the failing video technology of its day, UHF-TV. This legislation, mandating that TV sets sold after Jan. 1, 1964, be equipped with an 82-channel tuner, "made UHF broadcasting a viable business," a trade journal dutifully reported following the FCC's digital tuner mandate."
I don't agree with all the points made in the above piece however it makes me wonder why we are seeing history repeat itself.
To wit:Why did it take from 1952 until 1964 to make UHF tuners mandatory in US TVs? Did the UHF convertor box manufacturers team up with TV set manufacturers to bring pressure to hold off the passage of such legislation as long as possible? The DuMont TV my dad bought in 1953 had an internal UHF tuner as did some earlier DuMont and other mfgr's models as well. The manufacturers apparently included them in some sets, but not the less expensive ones.
Why was there no 'color' mandate to push the transition from B&W in the 60s along with the UHF tuner mandate? Was a law ever contemplated requiring all sets over some certain size be capable of full color reproduction? How about a law requiring all prime time network programing to be broadcast in color, and a cutoff date for all TV stations to present everything, including locally produced programs in full color?
I'm sure someone will say there were no such laws simply because there was no 'spectrum giveback' to be had with a subsequent auction to net the gov't lots of money. If so, that might mean the digital transition has nothing at all to do with making better pictures,
and everythning to do with the balanced budget act. Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Mark Schubin wrote:There is no requirement of which I'm aware in any DVB country for all TVs and devices with TV tuners to have DTT-reception capability. In the U.S., that requirement kicks in a few weeks from now.De facto, with analog cutoff dates of 2010 to 2012 in western Europe and Australia, DTT reception will be mandatory for any OTA user. Regardless of "tuner mandate." So only cable or DBS subscribers would benefit from cheaper analog-only sets, and in many countries, these make up a small minority. I expect integrated sets, perhaps DVB-T, DVB-S, and DVB-C, to become commonplace there too. Bert