Digital Home Thoughts: The Beginning of the End for Analog TV

"Slowly but surely, the February 17, 2009, cutoff date for over-the-air analog TV gets an increasing amount of attention as we get closer to the date (just two years away). But an equally important date is just days away: February 28, 2007. That's the last day that manufacturers can ship or import any product that has only an analog TV tuner. As of March 1, all new TV and video products imported into the U.S. or shipped to retailers that include an analog (NTSC) tuner need to have a digital (ATSC) tuner as well. The March 1 date is merely one step in an ongoing process. By federal mandate, over-the-air analog TV broadcasts will cease in the U.S. on February 17, 2009. From that day forward, you'll only be able to receive over-the-air TV broadcasts on TVs with digital (ATSC) tuners. To prepare for that inevitability, the FCC has setup a years-long schedule for transitioning the nation from analog to digital TVs."



While it is an end of an era, I don't think many will be crying too hard about this. The deadline was set quite some time ago and it is good to know that things are still on schedule. In fact, I haven't seen electronics retails places like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. or big online sites sell analog TVs for some time now. Of course, one thing to keep in mind is that this news doesn't affect TVs alone, it affect all A/V equipment that has a TV tuner, for example, DVD players & recorders, etc.