"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...
On 02/16/06 08:47 am BP wrote:

Better pay attention. The feds are shutting off free TV in 2009 to free
up
the bandwidth for communications. Pay to play is the US way.

That's not true. The only thing being shut down is analog broadcast TV
(NTSC). It's being replaced by digital broadcast which is also free,
the same content, plus HD capability and it's already available in most
areas.

Really? Are you saying that they are going to broadcast (that means radio
waves) a digital signal that can be received via antenna? Or are you
talking about a digital signal that is transmitted via satellite that is
recieved via dish? Give me a link so I can learn more about this new free
service.

Enter your ZIP code at

http://www.antennaweb.org/

to find out what digital TV signals are being transmitted in your area
(and at what distance and direction).

We have an outside antenna for digital TV because DirecTV doesn't yet have
our locals in HD. And we get even more channels than I expected, because
some stations are transmitting on multiple "subchannels"; e.g., not just
36.1, but 36.2 and 36.3 as well. There might be both 4:3 and 16:9 versions
of the same program, different programs, or perhaps continuously updated
local weather information.

Perce

I stand corrected. Thanks for all the info.
Being a captive of a cable company (big hill behind the house results in no
direct broadcast signals) I was assuming it was the same deal. Maybe I
should put up a big antenna on the top of the hill.