So you focus on one promised benefit and neglect myriad costs?
Oooooops. You just invited all manner of disagreement.
Damned if I know how you can claim "everyone is better off in the end".
Correct me if I'm wrong. You are not 100% in touch with:
What digital eqpt. will be offered and at what price.
Exactly what dig. transmissions will be offered and when.
What the overall cost/benefit relationship will look like.
Etc, etc.
The whole thing is driven by the Fedral Gummint and the dreaded "Entertainment Industry", both of which are primarily concerned with extracting more $ from your pocketbook and mine.
I was considering purchase of a new tv and had little idea which way to jump (HD, etc), so I asked a career cable tv friend. He advised to do nothing, buy nothing, as the proverbial shit is *bound* to hit the fan around 2009, and noone can much predict how it will all shake out.
I expect a hideous, hideous mess and a massive, behemoth boondoggle.
Cheers, Puddin'
"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens!" -Friedrich Schiller