With digital TV coming closer, Lee McKnight of MIT's Center for Technology, Policy & Industrial Development and Robert D. Hof of Business Week discussed how it may change your TV -- and your PC.
Here's a sample:
JackBW: This question from our AOL audience comes from NutShell1 in New Jersey.
Question: Do you feel that in the future, when buying a computer, you'll also be buying a telephone, VCR, and TV (the merging of appliances)?
LeeMcKnigh: All those capabilities are almost available now in computers. Whether you as a consumer wish to have separate devices or one device in your home will determine whether some of these functions are in separate boxes or the same one.
JackBW: THonywell in Omaha has the next question.
Question: How soon will this take effect? And how much will it cost to the consumer?
JackBW: Ah, the cost question...
LeeMcKnigh: If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. :) Seriously, estimates range from $5,000 to $10,000 for near-term prices for digital TV sets. How long it will take depends on Congress, the FCC, and the industry battle between PC and TV makers, as well as consumers. It will take seven years for digital TV to gain mass acceptance, and maybe longer. According to the budget agreement, the current TV channels are supposed to be given back to the government for reallocation by 2002, and since it will surely take a little longer than five years, seven years is still an optimistic estimate of how quickly digital TV will take hold.
