What began in 1986 in a cinderblock building at Broward County's Port Everglades as an industry experiment to deliver better TV pictures evolved into a 1996 federal law that, in the name of progress, will dismantle the analog television system in place for more than 50 years. Last November, stations in the nation's largest cities began sending out their programs in a digital format alongside their regular analog signals. This fall, it's South Florida's turn. By 2003, every station in America should be broadcasting in digital. It's the start of a brave new TV world where nothing is certain except change.
Cable companies are reluctant to carry HDTV because it takes up a lot of space on their systems.
For now, connecting an outdoor antenna to a digital set is the only sure way to receive the new signals. Local broadcasters are not enthusiastic about digital. They face millions of dollars in new equipment costs and say they are unsure how they can offset that with additional advertising revenue. Interviews with dozens of people in all parts of the industry revealed that digital is off to a somewhat chaotic start, with wide disagreement about where this new technology is headed, when it will fully replace the analog system and how enthusiastically it will be received by consumers. We doubt that true high-definition TV is a marketplace winner.