HDTV Saturation date? (1 Viewer)

[Scott_AH]

When do you think that HDTV will actually become the only way TV is broadcast. I keep hearing about the government's mandates of late 2006 but I really doubt we'll see only HDTV broadcasts in Nowhere, Montana by then. It seems they've been behind schedule on many aspects of this big change so far but would it be safe to assume that by 2008, we'll only be viewing high-def sources?

Scott

 

[NathanM]

I could be off on this, but I believe the government mandate is for DTV, not HDTV. The big push behind the government mandate is to free up bandwidth for other uses. I could believe that all TV will be broadcast in DTV by 2008. Ubiquitous HDTV will be much longer in the happening, I would imagine.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

The regulation

2006 OR when HDTV reaches an 85% saturation, whichever comes LAST

It's going to be at least 2010 before they shut off analog, probably closer to 2015

 

[Brian Ruth]

I think it will be about 2008 before half of American households have at least 1 HD set, and my guess is that 85% will have it by about 2017 or 2018. I don't think there will be any rush to move over to HDTV from the populace until the decoder boxes get down under $100, and that won't happen anytime soon. :p