The USA has finally switched to DTV and of course the FCC has mandated technologies that are patented by companies and those patents aren't released to the public. It is said that each DTV tuner costs $40 to the patent holders (strangely, the coupons are $40 for those converters... hmm?).
This sort of government forcing people to use non-free technology is terrible and those patents should become public domain. Oh, most people that have received over the air analog TV will probably notice many stations that they now won't receive. DTV doesn't die gracefully as analog TV did.
We need to stop how companies force these technologies on the market through the government. The FCC is horrible corrupt and needs to be disbanded.
If you still get over the air analog TV, that's it. Time to get a digital tuner.