Digital Television is a new system of bringing TV signals to your TV set. The DTV signals sent from TV stations are in digital modulation format rather than in the analog modulation format which has been used since television began.

You can see digital TV sets on sale at most electronics and large appliance stores right now. They are the ones with the wide screens similar in shape to the screen in a movie theater. Most of these DTV sets are still pretty expensive but the prices are coming down rapidly.

DTV allows TV stations to provide you with new and different services that were not available with the old analog system. Probably the most important DTV service is the delivery to your home of High Definition TV (HDTV) signals.

Pictures on a DTV set with an HDTV signal provide you with an unusually bright, clear, sharp and lifelike picture in a wide screen format with surround sound audio capability. All TV stations in the United States are supposed to be changing from the analog system to DTV by the end of 2006 but it may take longer than that. In the meantime, each TV station is broadcasting both an analog signal and a DTV signal on different TV channels so you can receive ether one you want.

Twenty five percent of U.S. households already spend $1,500 or more for a big screen analog set. September 2001 survey results show that upon learning about the benefits of Digital TV, 43 percent of consumers age 25 or older were "extremely likely," "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to purchase a Digital Television. With prices on Digital TV sets decreasing by almost 50 percent over the past three years, the Digital TV experience is an affordable reality for consumers now.

Viewers can't ignore the dramatic improvements offered by the Digital Television conversion. Visually, HDTV captures viewers with crystal clear resolution and razor sharp detail. Individual hairs, labels on footballs and the subtle effect of wind blowing through grass are all clearly visible through HDTV.

Also, the resolution provides an image akin to movie theater screens. Combined with the capacity to deliver enhanced Dolby Digital surround sound, HDTV produces an advanced home-theater effect. Digital TV's multicasting ability gives viewers expanded choice in television programs broadcast from the same station at the same time.

For example, with multicasting, viewers can choose to watch the news, sports, a sitcom or children's programming coming from the same station at 5 p.m. Digital TV automatically provides viewers with sharper images, better sound and more viewing options than have ever been available over the air.

While HDTV is the highest quality of Digital TV, it is only one of DTV's benefits. In addition to HDTV, Digital TV can offer a second type of signal, Standard-definition Television (SDTV). The magic of SDTV is that it occupies less space on the allocated spectrum than high-definition signals, giving broadcasters the flexibility to multicast programming and bringing viewers more over-the-air content.

All TV stations broadcast in 6 megahertz (MHz) blocks of spectrum. HDTV is a particular type of Digital Television signal that occupies most of the available 6 MHz broadcast signal, enabling broadcasters to show a single program in HDTV's stunning resolution. However, when stations are not broadcasting an HDTV signal, Digital TV does give them the capacity to broadcast multiple standard definition signals and data streams resulting in more programming options.

In effect, one Digital Television signal has the ability to carry either one program broadcast in HDTV or several programs, broadcast simultaneously on different channels, in a Standard-definition (SDTV) format. This technology will enable broadcasters to dramatically enhance the picture quality of television.

No. Set-top boxes are available now and will continue to be available to consumers after the transition is complete. However, to reap the full benefits of Digital TV, including superior sound and clarity, you will want to own a Digital TV set.

An analog television, with the addition of a set-top box, will still allow viewers to enjoy all of the programming they have always enjoyed in addition to the benefits of Digital TV including multicasting, enhanced sound quality and data casting available through digital broadcasting.