Consumers may expect to pay top dollar for new HDTVs, but now the Consumer Electronics Association wants them to pay for HDTV broadcasts as well. Television networks such as ABC, NBC and CBS show sports events and movies in HDTV in order to attract more viewers. However, a recently conducted poll shows that only around 8% of TV viewers watch free broadcasts. What this means is that cable and satellite television subscriptions are at an all time high. Following this logic, the Consumer Electronics Association wants to sell the wireless spectrum that the national network uses for free broadcasts off to companies that are willing to pay.
Not only will HDTV owners be negatively impacted, but all television viewers will have fewer choices. Instead of watching football games in high definition, viewers may end up watching more commercials. The good news is that few HDTV owners watch free TV broadcasts at all. Because cable and satellite television companies offer movie and sports packages, the national networks have been falling in the ratings.
No more free TV will not likely come as a shock to viewers. The only people that will be effected by the proposed changes are viewers who don’t have the money to pay for cable. These are the same consumers that are watching TV on older model television sets. Some programming will remain available to them, but aside from the morning news and state of the union addresses, they might be stuck watching static in place of free HDTV broadcasts.
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