February 2009 is the date for the mandatory transition to digital TV. Here is a great website to answer a lot of questions folks may have about this major transition in broadcasting and hardware technologies.
I’m still undecided about whether this will be a bang or a whimper. Marketing efforts, Cable and Satellite have made many households “digital already” so by 2009 there may not be enough old TVs to matter much – they can install the digital to analog boxes and will be off to the races.
The FCC has ruled to open the Cable industry in a surprise move from an agency that is notable for NOT regulating markets. This decision is, however, consistent with the idea that since Cable companies have enjoyed an unsual monopoly-esque sort of status in media for some time, and have taken advantage of that by rising cable rates much faster than inflation would suggest they should have. The New York Times reports.
I’ve been a fan of Boston Legal for a few years but the season premier tonight is really, really bad in my opinion. The new characters are weak and uninteresting, the performances seem anemic and uninspired, and the storylines are stupid rather than quirky. Did the old writers go on strike? If not, they should stop paying them. If this wasn’t bad enough I missed my Facebook pal Mark Cuban on “Dancing with the Stars”
Joe Duck 