What is digital TV

Digital TV (DTV) is a newer form of technology used for sending television broadcasts to your home.    For viewers, digital TV can offer improved picture and sound, and potentially more programming options. Digital TV can also offer interactive features, such as electronic program guides.    Broadcasters throughout the U.S. are making the transition to digital transmissions. Currently, local stations simultaneously transmit their broadcasts in both the digital and the older analog forms.    Televised information can be sent more efficiently in digital form. Sending TV content digitally will leave more of the broadcast spectrum free for new uses once the transition is complete.

In very basic technical terms, digital broadcasts are encoded streams of zeroes and ones—the same binary language used by computers. The digitized signal is sent over the airwaves to be received by your TV.
(Digital TV broadcasting is sometimes called “digital terrestrial television” (DTT or DTTV). The longer name is used to differentiate digital TV broadcasting from other digitized forms of television, including digital cable or direct broadcast satellite.)

What is the digital TV (DTV) transition?
The switch from analog to digital broadcast television is referred to as the digital TV (DTV) transition. In 1996, the U.S. Congress authorized the distribution of an additional broadcast channel to each broadcast TV station so that they could start a digital broadcast channel while simultaneously continuing their analog broadcast channel. Later, Congress mandated that February 17, 2009 would be the last day for full-power television stations to broadcast in analog. Broadcast stations in all U.S. markets are currently broadcasting in both analog and digital. After February 17, 2009, full-power television stations will broadcast in digital only.