Check out this story......

[psycik]

http://news.com.com/Pro-Hollywood+bill+a...g=nefd.top

Interesting, and I hope it doesn't get off the ground.

[nitrogen_widget]

Maybe i'm not getting this, because it sounds completly stupid.
Their going to try & put restrictions on analog to digital recording devices & this will esentially make them useless.

Here is the thing that the MPAA hasn't figured out yet & I don't know why.

No matter what type of digital rights management they create, some group of Linux guru's miffed that they can't watch a Blue-Ray Disc on their Myth-TV box, or even just skip commercials are going to just crack it.

They did it with DVD's.

Should this get passed, by the time analog devices reach the market (should a company even decide to waste their time manufacturing one) The digital protection will be cracked & the people their "Targeting" with these devices won't even be affected by this law.

[groover km]

I won't be buying Vista.
I won't be buying Blu-Ray / HD-DVD.
I won't be forced into the 'Trusted Computing' crap.

None of these "products" provide any significant benefit to the user, and are simply a marketing ploy designed to shift everyone toward a managed a/v chain.

I am f***ing sick and tired of the vocabulary and the framework of 'copyright' being defined by the content owners. To recap:

Copyright DOES NOT exist to gaurantee the author/ owner a living, certainly not in perpituity. It is a bargain whereby *I* ('the people') allow you to retain LIMITED rights for a LIMITED time.

Copyright is designed and is intended to be POROUS. Ideas, extracts, information, are allowed to seep out into the public domain under the provision of fair use.

Copyright infringement IS NOT theft. Not according to the law, not according to the dictionary. STOP using emotive and inflammatory language.

STOP acting from the flawed strawman argument that "artists deserve to be paid" because it frames the argument in a manner that serves your interests. The market should dictate what products and services are worth, not legislation. I am sure that 50 years from now, artists *will* be paid; I'm not so sure about you distribution people in the middle trying to control the pipe.

STOP using the "artist's compensation" argument as a justification for copyright - it's a lie. Copyright is intended as an incentive, not a source of income.

Seriously, I am so sick of these people I can't see straight.....

[kayleigh]

I won't be buying Vista.
*SNIP*
Seriously, I am so sick of these people I can't see straight.....

I could copy your whole quote, but I don't want to take up all the space. I just want to say ditto, word for word.

[tevbill]

And then there is THIS story - It will only affect the US of course:
Analog TV Phaseout

By Arshad Mohammed
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 20, 2005; Page D05

They've finally set a date -- Feb. 17, 2009.

That's the last day the over-the-air analog signals that have brought television programs into Americans' homes for decades will be broadcast, leaving only digital signals, under an agreement reached by House and Senate negotiators over the weekend.


That means that millions of people will either have to buy new digital TV sets or get their hands on a set-top converter box that allows the digital channels to be viewed over an old analog television. In addition, the negotiators agreed to spend up to $1.5 billion in federal funds to subsidize the set-top boxes for consumers.

Under the legislation, which was passed by the House yesterday and is expected to be approved by the Senate this week, consumers will be able to get up to two $40 coupons per household to help defray the cost of the set-top boxes.

The bill chiefly affects people who watch TV on sets that pick up analog signals through their antennas. Cable companies are expected to win permission from Congress to convert digital signals so they can be viewed over an analog set. Satellite TV customers already receive digital signals.

The legislation will allow the government to take back the radio spectrum used for analog TV broadcasts. The government then plans to auction some of the spectrum to bring in an estimated $10 billion over five years -- $7.4 billion of which would go toward reducing the budget deficit.

It also sets aside spectrum to help police, firefighters and other first responders to communicate during emergencies.

The legislation has been debated by lawmakers for months, with the most contentious issues being the cutoff date -- which could put politicians in the uncomfortable position of turning off voters' TV sets -- and the amount of the set-top box subsidy.

Some legislators argued that federal funds should not subsidize private television viewing. But majorities in both houses of Congress concluded that some money should be set aside to help.

[stefan]

consumers will be able to get up to two $40 coupons per household to help defray the cost of the set-top boxes

[...]

Some legislators argued that federal funds should not subsidize private television viewing. But majorities in both houses of Congress concluded that some money should be set aside to help.

That's nice. We didn't get anything to buy STBs for here when they phased out analogue TV

[tevbill]

When was analog phased out is Sweden? Did it have any adverse affects besides having to purchase a STB?

[stefan]

It is being phased out as we write =) Region by region is shut down. First one was in the beginning of the fall, my parents' location got shut down in October, next region is in january. All of Sweden should be converted in november 2007, according to the plan: http://www.teracom.se/pub/3672/050622%20...slutad.pdf
It's in Swedish, but the dates and red rings are understandable for most of you =)

Implications? Well, it only affects people not on cable (they can go on like nothing happened) or on satellite (they are already on digital since a long time ago). So, these people are of course not used to STB. They complain about channel changing takes too long (a second or two compared to instant on your tv set), and that you would need two STBs if you want to record one show and watch another. The last point is the most valid of the two, in my opinion.

And, there are a few households that can't get digital to work at all where they live, because of the bad reception in their geographic location. Government basically says "too bad for them, but at least we save money"...

[A_Brass]

That's nice. We didn't get anything to buy STBs for here when they phased out analogue TV

Its a f***ing joke. When ISA slots were no longer used in your PC did you wait for the goverment to buy you a new Motherboard/ad-in cards. If you did I'll bet your still waiting. If they really think we need to move to digital, and to be honest Joe consumer hasn't really bitched about it much, let the people buy there own STB. I think the real motivation is this part:

The legislation will allow the government to take back the radio spectrum used for analog TV broadcasts. The government then plans to auction some of the spectrum to bring in an estimated $10 billion over five years -- $7.4 billion of which would go toward reducing the budget deficit.

10 Billion, someone is looking at that and drooling. No way no how will 7.4 of that ever be spent on reducing the deficit. So much will get skimmed off the top for PORK it wont even make a dent.

Don't get me wrong I like free stuff as much as the next guy, but its not free. Its my friggen tax dollars. I would rather they just leave it in my pocket in the first place, so I can buy a digital ready TV or STB.

Better yet leave it alone and let the consumer decide if they want digital not.

Just my two cents.

[groover km]

I think the real motivation is this part:

The legislation will allow the government to take back the radio spectrum used for analog TV broadcasts. The government then plans to auction some of the spectrum to bring in an estimated $10 billion over five years -- $7.4 billion of which would go toward reducing the budget deficit.

10 Billion, someone is looking at that and drooling. No way no how will 7.4 of that ever be spent on reducing the deficit. So much will get skimmed off the top for PORK it wont even make a dent.

You are absolutely CORRECT. Let's not forget that the key criticism of the 9/11 commission was the inability of emergency services to communicate with each other effectively due to insufficient bandwidth, an issue that was repeated again during the Katrina debacle. Why hasn't this been resolved after 4 years? Because the broadcast companies are squabbling over how they can divide the spectrum up between themselves..... incredible.

And let's not even get into the debate that the radio spectrum is part of the 'commons' that we all own, and the FCC is charged with REGULATING it's usage on our behalf, not holding f***ing auctions to sell what does not belong to them.

Grrrrrrr