Isn ATSC, digital television superior to NTSC, analog television?
ANSWER. No. Consider that the government has to force us to buy digital TV. In many areas, digital television has been available for years. Yet over 20 million households continue to watch over-the-air, analog TV. By cable, many tens of millions more choose analog TV. Some of these households have two, three, four or more analog sets. If digital television were really superior, the American free-market system would obsolete analog TV. Let’s be clear. In an engineering sense, ATSC has advantages over NTSC. For example, the average ATSC signal is stronger. Also, broadcasters can transmit several digital shows per channel. But these are just features. Consumers want benefits. And consumers have many reasons to be skeptical… • They know that digital is incompatible with the TV in the den. • They consider the expense of buying a converter. Even if the converter were free, driving to the mall and shopping costs time and money. • They consider the inconvenience of installing a converter. •
