MSN is trying to stir up traffic to their site using FUD.
Here are some quotes:
If enforced, that means that overnight, somewhere around 70 million television sets now connected to rabbit ears or roof-top antennas will suddenly and forever go blank, unless their owners purchase a special converter box.
Thus analog sets clearly need some kind of warning label, and proponents of a “date certain” say this will make the labels far more meaningful: i.e., “This television will no longer receive over-the-air signals after December 31, 2006.”
To continue to receive free broadcast television via antenna,
Many analog television owners won’t need a converter: 85 percent of Americans now get all their television from cable or satellite providers, so for the most part the change-over won’t affect them.
I can bet that they got the 85% number from NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) who is against this change-over. I think it is actually lower. Besides us HDTV nuts, how many people do you know that still use an antenna exclusively to get their TV signal?
For these people, predominately lower-income
I can drive through some of the worst neighborhoods in Memphis and there are satellite dishes everywhere. The rest are probably on cable (paying for it or stealing it). And it's not that hard to pick up channels in this area. I use a $5 antenna for my HDTV.
-Robert
-Robert