John Corn
08-26-02, 11:06 AM
When the government recently required all television sets sold by 2007 to include a digital tuner, the move was criticized as another case of know-nothing meddling by Washington.
I think the Federal Communications Commission actually didn't meddle enough. The FCC's digital-tuner ruling did nothing to change the fundamental nature of TV. It simply attempts to hasten the day when over-the-air broadcasts are made using digital, rather than analog, signals.
But with the right sort of government intervention, an entirely new kind of television set and TV experience can be possible in the not-to-distant future.
With a little more electronics than they already have, TVs can be transformed from passive devices that show whatever is piped to them, into active, "smart" appliances that can access whatever their owner wants to see. Courtesy, of course, of the Internet.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB1030316592575696155-search,00.html
I think the Federal Communications Commission actually didn't meddle enough. The FCC's digital-tuner ruling did nothing to change the fundamental nature of TV. It simply attempts to hasten the day when over-the-air broadcasts are made using digital, rather than analog, signals.
But with the right sort of government intervention, an entirely new kind of television set and TV experience can be possible in the not-to-distant future.
With a little more electronics than they already have, TVs can be transformed from passive devices that show whatever is piped to them, into active, "smart" appliances that can access whatever their owner wants to see. Courtesy, of course, of the Internet.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB1030316592575696155-search,00.html