Digital Television is a rather new technology that offers television signals to be broadcasted and received with picture clarity being very highly improved over the regular analog transmissions. It has been emerging into our society for roughly the past decade or so. However, the whole process of ushering digital television into the viewing mainstream has been slower than many originally thought for reasons that will later be explained. Now, there are many that have joined in the process to speed into the digital television era, including certain cable and television companies and government agencies. Also, there have been things to slow it down as counteracting such as slow broadcasters and even the consumers. Overall, there are many roadblocks and issues dealing with recent technology that have yet to be dealt with. So, the big question here is just who are the leaders for the change toward digital transmissions for television and where will it go in the coming months and years?.
Brief History.
The technology for digital television came on strong around the mid 1990's and the push for it to upgrade the old transmissions standards soon followed (Merline). The government, for one, thought that digital television would be a concept that the public would gobble up like other technologies of the digital revolution. Although, the technology was far more advanced than regular analog television sets, consumers did not buy the new digital sets. The numbers that were produced sat on the shelves with their high price tags still intact. One reason is cost, but it also seems that the new technology was disappointing for many consumers. The picture was harder to obtain simply by turning the television on like normal analog television. Consumers soon became reluctant to buy something for such a high price that they may not be capable of working (Merline). Also, many broadcasters became hesitant to move to digital transmissions in light of the situation without the support of a solid consumer base.
