Analog

On the eve of what had long been recognized as the end of analog television (February 17, 2009), I'm contemplating how on January 26th, the Senate passed a bill delaying the switch to digital television to June 12. Despite this, all but two of my local stations are shutting off their analog signals at midnight. Only my local PBS station willingly chose to continue broadcasting analog signals until June; my local CBS affiliate is hanging on because of reported digital broadcast interference from the continued PBS analog broadcasts. As the saying goes, if you have cable or satellite service, nothing will change. But what's the deal with this transition? The argument I've been hearing lately is that since 9/11, emergency services have had a need for more communications radio bands. There's also the increasing needs of Internet junkies who insist that they must have access the World Wide Web through their cell phones; that takes broadcast signals too. So obviously t