Impact
Digital TV encoding allows stations to offer higher definition video and better sound quality than analog, as well allowing the option of programming multiple digital subchannels (multicasting). However, it provides these advantages at the cost of a severe limitation of broadcast range.
Digital signals do not have 'grade b' signal areas, and are either 'in perfectly' or 'not in at all'. Further, since most stations have elected to use UHF rather than older VHF channel allocations, their actual broadcast range is far less than previously. Viewers in major metropolitan areas will likely not notice problems, however, rural TV users have generally had most and in some events all of the stations they previously received with acceptable but not 'perfect' signals fall over the digital cliff (as the loss of signal has been described).
Lastly, many low-power broadcasters have been temporarily permitted to transmit in analog for several years.
Read more about this topic: Digital Television Transition In The United States
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