Comment Re:Government Overregulation (Score 4, Informative) 430
Well, the industry pushed the standards, but it was the FCC that asked them to initially. It all comes down to bandwidth, and the sad fact that we just don't have enough to go around down at the low end of the spectrum (where signals carry well). Digital transmission will allow the FCC to phase out the current wide-band analog TV bands, and to re-use (i.e., sell) the bandwidth for things like fleet dispatch, which is always screaming for more spectrum.
While the ISM and similar bands (900MHz and 2.4 GHz home wireless) are great bands for their purposes, they don't tend to overcome terrain obstacles as well as lower frequencies (and no, this is not really a question of broadcast power). So it is natural for the FCC to want to make more effecient use of the spectrum by reclaiming wide analogue channels and replacing them with narrow digital channels, thus freeing spectrum for other uses. That's what we pay them for. That's their job.
While the ISM and similar bands (900MHz and 2.4 GHz home wireless) are great bands for their purposes, they don't tend to overcome terrain obstacles as well as lower frequencies (and no, this is not really a question of broadcast power). So it is natural for the FCC to want to make more effecient use of the spectrum by reclaiming wide analogue channels and replacing them with narrow digital channels, thus freeing spectrum for other uses. That's what we pay them for. That's their job.
