We personally don’t have cable or satellite. We’re still on the antenna. Sometimes this is a good thing. We’ve now purchased the converter box for changing our analog to digital. The tv stations have been broadcasting both ways, so when the converter box says “Weak signal”, we just unhook the box and watch tv via the analog. Actually, that happens a lot.
In Fe '09, though, it is all going to be digital. There will be no option to receive blacked-out shows when the digital doesn’t work.
In a world crisis, enemies will see this weakness and try to shut down the digital broadcast. Even right now, there are people in this world (American’s yet) who are grabbing onto broadcast power. They are mainly interested in controlling what goes over the air waves. For instance, Former Gov of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, who owns a leverage buyout place with tons and tons of cash, a lot of it foreign (China mostly), was interested in purchasing a substantial percentage of our broadcast news. His efforts were selfish in that he would then be able to save himself money on tv ads for his presidential campaign and other people’s campaigns, people that he wished to put in power (for himself and self-serving party members----not that all republicans are self-serving). No, I’m not saying Mitt’s an “enemy.” I’m just saying that this example of a selfish interest creating an opportunity might be noticed by a truly awful group who WILL be enemies.
I do believe that the USA should maintain the double system, even though expensive, perhaps just for the radio, an emergency system. Maybe have radio centers in shelters, where an analog radio could exist and people who needed to know the news could go to the center and find out what to do. Without something like this, we essentially will be divided and in the dark. A very, very weak position. We have tons and tons of people studying right now in the radio and tv industry who can’t find work. This center/shelter idea would create jobs and security for the nation.
Perhaps, instead of using tax dollars to pacify some rich investor’s gambling addiction, we should support the infrastructure that will keep us safe and in the know.
