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If you already receive cable, there would be no reason to do this. Cable customers need not do anything as they ALREADY receive a digital signal (not an over the air analog signal). Whether you have a cable box or cable without a box, you are obviously not using rabbit ears or receiving an analog signal.
"Television sets connected to cable, satellite or other pay TV service will not require a converter box."
"How Do I Receive Digital Broadcasts If I Subscribe To Cable Or Satellite?
If you receive cable or satellite television service, contact your cable or satellite provider about any additional components, such as a digital set-top box, that you may need to watch digital broadcast programming. "
As the signal from your cable or satellite provider will still be transmitted digitally, I strongly suspect that if your television is analog you will need a converter. I also suspect that the converters currently provided by satellite/cable companies have the ability to alternate between digital and analog signals. You may also find that the converters being sold for antenna use will convert the providers' signal, however I doubt they will allow this potential source of revenue escape them long term.
The article also touches on some of the other points mentioned in this thread about the Big money involved with selling off the airwave frequencies as well as dedicating parts of it to the emergency services like fire, police, and of course my personal passion EMS.
PS I still think McGruff should be brought back even if he has to take a bite out of analog TV.
Last edited by MysteryMT; 07-15-2008 at 08:01 AM..
To answer the OP, until a month ago my parents were still using the roof antenna for their TVs. They finally decided to install cable...but only after my sisters and I said it was okay, because they made us "go without" all those years we were growing up!
Cable wasn't even offered in the city of Detroit until after we moved to a burb (1988), so we all dealt without it. When we moved to the burbs, my friends were all envious.
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