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I have been remotely involved in the changeover to DTV in the UK, as I have designed some electronics for the head-ends. The situation does seem more orderly there, but there are some major differences.
First, there is still the yearly "tax" payed to the government for each set owned. This can help offset the cost of transition. Their terrestrial DTV is called FreeView and provides a very good assortment of channels. Like someone above mentioned, it's not simply a duplicate of the analog stations, but appears more like a full EPG like that of digital cable or satellite.
Now the big difference. Because of the hilly terrain and the population being spread out in rural areas, early BBC tests showed that much of the population would not be able to receive terrestrial broadcasts. To address this, they also offer FREE satellite on the SKY system. This way the viewer can purchase a terrestrial receiver if they're in a good coverage area, or a satellite receiver if not. Also with the satellite receiver, you can add pay channels on top of the free ones if desired.
I think this latter solution of theirs is the one we are missing here. The BBC did their tests and ensured that EVRYONE had a way to get free digital broadcasts. Our plan 'B' appears to be force people to buy cable or satellite service if they can't receive DTV. While I get good DTV reception where I'm at, I would be quite upset that the percentage of my tax dollars spent on public broadcasting and the FCC which I could take advantage of on analog would simply go away on digital. So what will these people be paying for?
Darryl
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