What you Likely Didn't Know About the Digital TV Switch

So unless you've been living under a rock for the past year you saw ads regarding the switch to digital TV this past summer. These ads did not say it outright but the implication was that this was our government bringing us into the Digital Age with this change. They were even kind enough to subsidize around $40 for the cost of converter boxes for those people who didn't the necessary services or equipment to receive the new signals.

I realize your first thought is likely the same as many others, this program is to help people and so the government did a good thing, right? Wrong! How about we pull back the proverbial curtain and see what really went on and why this switch was done. I assure you it was not the altruistic gesture it was made out to be.

Here's what you likely didn't know and for some reason wasn't reported anywhere. Before this change there were several sets of bands for standard TV. These are regulated by the FCC and are similar to cordless phone frequencies, etc. They prevent these types of devices from causing interference with each other and therefore should be regulated. However, the DTV switch freed up these TV bands for use with other devices. But what you didn't hear is that these bands were actually freed up so that cell phone carriers could use them for the next generation of wireless services (4G) because these bands allowed a substantial increase in data rates. So phone customers could do things like surf the web and download larger amounts of data from the web much quicker and easier. Obviously this would be attarctive to any phone company wishing to offer their customers a faster connection to the web.

Since all phone companies would be interested in this the FCC had auctions for the various bands. And how much did the make at these auctions? 19.5 BILLION DOLLARS! Yes, that's BILLION with a B! Or better visualized $19,500,000,000. Yet for some reason this information was lost in the translation from auction house to the DTV feelgood commercials. And where did this money go you ask? Who knows. It was likely absorbed into the governmental black hole. Or in my opinion is likely being used now to help fund the push for Net-Nuetrality which I've written another blog about.

And to add insult to injury, remeber those $40 coupons they were so happy to give us to subsidize the cost of convertor boxes? Congress appropriated at least 1.3 BILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer money to fund the program!

So they subsedized a change that they forced on taxpayers with taxpayer money to make 19.5 BILLION DOLLARS which we never saw and most of us were unaware they even made. This is the kind of government BS that makes my blood boil!