According to the article HERE by the Globe and Mail, the bill was defeated in the HOUSE. The States will still go ahead with the transition to full digital TV on February 17th, 2009. I still feel that the general consumer in the States are not ready and a huge push by the new administration would have made a difference in getting more people to switch by June.

Like my father says, “I do not need the better picture quality. . . what I get now is fine”. My father has been retired for over 10 years and does not see the point in paying extra on top of the basic cable fees to get HDTV channels of existing channels. Also many of the programs he wants to watch are educational and since he uses a computer that is online, he can watch many of these shows later online via the original source like pbs.org, cbs.com, nationalgeographics.com etc. . . Having the ability to connect a computer also to the larger LCD tv makes no sense because his computer is an iMac which has the 19 inch LCD with the computer built in.

My father still has a hard time understanding the difference between an analog signal and a digital signal. My father currently is heavily into photography and enjoys his large collection of digital cameras. The main advantage is being able to take hundreds of pictures and see them immediately. From a picture perspective, he does not care that the camera is digital or analog as long as the capabilities that the camera offers as far as viewing immediately and being able to edit the image on his computer are available to him.

 I feel many users of standard cathode ray tube TVs do not understand the significance of digital TV and just want to be able to watch their occasional TV programs and news. Switching just seems to these people is another forced added expense. No real benefit to these people since they do not require interactive TV, the wider screen, better picture quality, better sound or access to dozens of more TV channels especially at a higher monthly rate. 

Japan has switched years ago to HDTV but North Americans are not as sophisticated as the Japanese living in Japan when it comes to embracing new gadgets and technology. I hope when it is time for us Canadians to switch, much of the information regarding digital technology has been conveyed to the general public to ensure that our transition is less painless. Currently, I feel the Canadian government has not done enough to educate the general public about the benefits of digital TV and how we can recycle our current cathode ray tube TVs and upgrade to a digital TV.