Is is sort of interesting, isnt it?
- Govt gets to sell off the old bandwidth for billions, makes sure to lead off with this by noting that they'll bravely offer up a small part for fire/police/rescue.
- Converter manufacturers get to unload a bunch of cheap converters that have no useful purpose past an aging televisions lifespan and have >100% profit margins on what would otherwise be a slim margin product, which to be fair means a ton of companies will make them, giving people a lot of choice...errr...in how they're sporked.
- Consumers think they're getting a great deal, because who doesnt like getting 50% off of something?
- Government protects the makers of cheap low end tuners by limiting what you can buy with the coupons.
- Converter makers get to come back and sell the same product a second time, this time with an HDMI connector in it, to the OTA customers who buy cheap tunerless DTV's.
- Taxpayers foot the bill but we feel okay about it because the coupons are supposed to go to poorer people in rural areas with rabbit ear televisions from the 1970's that cant afford a new tv or tuner box. Nevermind that 70% of the coupons will be snatched up by well to do people, many of which have cable or satellite.
- Google gets to buy a big hunk of the bandwidth opened up, creates nearly seamless national wireless network that allows free wireless access and applications for all, funneled through the google network and its advertising of course, effectively supplanting the television industry as most people migrate from broadcast analog to broadband digital with all entertainment and information being piped wirelessly to their house.
Oh yeah, and then you'll need a new converter box for that.
And wish you'd bought some GOOG at $200 a share.