They want the government to require that all newly manufactured TV sets be capable of receiving a digital signal to help drive down costs and attract buyers. And they assert that it's not needed anyway since sales of the new TVs are good - more than 648,000 digital TV integrated sets and monitors were sold to retailers in 2000. Otherwise, people won't buy the sets, manufacturers say. I think we have a stalemate right now. Taking a break from the fingerpointing, the broadcasters association and consumer electronics group announced a joint promotional campaign to inform consumers about digital TV products and programming on the market.
Digital programming takes up far less room on the airwaves than current analog shows.
So a broadcaster could use the digital channel it gets from the government to beam shows in the high-definition format, broadcast multiple programs at once or even send data to consumers' computers. So far, CBS and PBS are among the networks that have taken the lead in providing new, high-definition shows to their audiences. Offering even a few high-profile events in the new format will help bring on new viewers, he said. Broadcasters must return their analog channels to the government by 2006 or when digital TV reaches 85 percent of the market, whichever comes later. He noted that other industries making wide-scale overhauls have taken substantially longer.