On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:53:39 -0500, Ol' Duffer
wrote:

In article .com,
says...
Does anyone know if it is true that the present VHF TV band will be
disbanded when HDTV finally takes over? What will then occupy those low
band frequencies? And what will be the new fequency allocations?

If I understand correctly, what happens is that no new licenses will
be issued for NTSC amplitude modulation, and existing licenses will
stop being renewed, so that analog signals will gradually be replaced
by digital signals on the same channels. It is unclear whether the
existing 69 channels will be needed or further reduced, although
there does seem to be a migration to lower frequencies as many
stations are adding digital VHF while keeping their ananlog UHF
signal on the air for an indeterminate transition period.

At one time it was rumoured that the FCC planned to start shutting
down analog once digital reached majority penetration, although it
is not clear to me how they plan to measure that, and it seems that
adoption has not been nearly as quick as they had thought.

The analog sunset will be either Jan 1 or sometime in April, 2009.
The current Congress is working on setting this date by law. People
will wake up and have no more TV. Our government hard at rest, but
hey, they are here to help!