why is tv being changed to hdtv?

Answer 1

To UPGRADE an old old standard.....a 65 year old standard.

Just like CDs and DVDs replaced Vinyl records 25 years ago.....

More lines, more detail...Digital tranmission removes snow from a picture. You can see the hairs flipping in/out on a guy's nose, it's THAT detailed....
Not that I want to see THAT....but it's nice to have the resolution to do so....

Answer 2

Good answer from dansinger61. Just to expand a bit though, the change to digital TV has been in the works for about 20 years. Its implementation has been delayed many times, but is now scheduled to occur on Feb 17, 2009. When the switchover occurs, over-the-air broadcasters will use channels 2-51 to broadcast digital TV. Each station is free to use its 6 MHz of spectrum in one of several ways. They can devote the whole thing to maximum quality HDTV (1080i) or they can create several subchannels, usually four, with different content. This is what PBS has been doing.

Next January (2008), the FCC will auction off part of the old UHF spectrum, channels 52-69, to the highest bidder. Some of that is reserved for public-safety purposes (fire/police/CD), but part (22 MHz) will be used for public wireless communications, possibly broadband internet. Google may potentially bid on this, but it's more likely that AT&T or Verizon will win the auction.

Answer 3

TV is changing to HDTV because HDTV is better. But I think the question you're asking is why is the US government mandating the change. In fact, they aren't. What they ARE mandating is a change from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting. Broadcasters are free to broadcast SDTV or HDTV signals on the digital channel.

The reason to change to digital broadcasting is that it requires less bandwidth. Once the changeover is complete, the FCC will auction off the extra channels for other uses.