One reason why we're all going to HDTV

How about a show of hands - raise your hand if you didn't know that all of us citizens own the frequencies used to transmit TV, and that the government is selling them for us.

New Rules Could Change Wireless Forever - Yahoo! News:
"You buy a cell phone, load any software you want on it, then choose your carrier. This vision of expanded consumer choices in the wireless world might be a little closer today than it has ever been, especially with reports that the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is circulating an 'open platform' proposal for the upcoming auction of the 700-MHz band.

FCC Chair Kevin Martin told USA Today on Monday that 'whoever wins this spectrum' will have to provide a 'truly open broadband network -- one that will open the door to a lot of innovative services to the consumer.'
He said an open network would mean a consumer could 'use any wireless device and download any mobile broadband application, with no restrictions,' except for illegal or malicious software.
. . .
The auction for bandwidth, scheduled for later this year, is gearing up to be epic. The sale will include spectrum in the 700-MHz band that has been used for analog television since the beginning of that medium, as U.S. TV is going completely digital by mid-2009.

The 700-MHz spectrum is particularly valuable because it penetrates walls and various obstacles more effectively than other frequencies, and the FCC is now developing the rules for the auction.

A 108-MHz block of bandwidth will become available after the analog TV stations complete their transition. Of that 108 MHz, 60 MHz will be auctioned in January 2008, public safety officials will receive 24 MHz, and 24 MHz already has been sold."

That block going to public safety officials is hopefully going to be used to unify their communications so different agencies can communincate with each other after a disaster. Governments may move at glacial speeds, but they do eventually move.

If you don't want to upgrade your TVs, you can get your fix from cable or satellite (I'll bet you do already), or there may be converter boxes sold to use older TVs with the new digital signals.