Good bye rabbit ears

Converters Signal a New Era for TVs

Technology
Converters Signal a New Era for TVs
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: June 7, 2007
The nearly 20 million homes that rely on rabbit ears for reception will receive as much as $80 to move to digital.

Excerpt:

At midnight on Feb. 17, 2009, the rabbit ears and the rooftop antennas that still guide television signals into nearly 1 of every 5 American homes will be rendered useless — unless they are tethered to a new device, including two versions unveiled yesterday, that the government will spend as much as $80 a household to help families buy.

The V-shaped rabbit ears, which have stood sentry in some living rooms and dens since the early 1950s, risk going the way of the eight-track tape player or Betamax in 20 months because that is when local television stations will cease sending their signals over the analog airwaves, and instead begin transmitting their programming exclusively over the more modern digital spectrum.


Comment: Hello HD TV! Deep in the article is this interesting fact: "the [digital] signal required is so compressed, or efficient, that a station may be able to send out four streams of programming where once it had only one."