US Senate panel sets April 2009 digital TV move

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee
on Thursday approved a deadline of April 7, 2009, for
television stations to broadcast only higher-quality digital
signals.

The legislation would require television stations to end
their analog broadcasts and return those airwaves to the
government, so some of them can be sold for commercial wireless
services, a sale expected to bring in $10 billion or more.

The measure also sets aside $3 billion to subsidize some of
the costs of Americans buying devices that would convert
digital signals so that existing analog television sets could
still work.