Anyone who’s watched a substantial amount of television within the last few years probably knows about the impending “digital switch” that will put an end to analog broadcasting. However, this “switch” will do nothing but switch off the TV signal for a large number of American households.

After digital broadcasting becomes the standard, a mass turn-off will occur for a number of reasons.

For one, educational messages have been bungled in the media. Ironically, some digital switchover commercials are aired exclusively on digital cable. These ads promote the usage of government-sponsored digital TV tuner coupons. What they fail to say is the price: an average of $50 per viewer. These ads also fail to say that an estimated 21 million TV viewers in the U.S. will be required to pay if they ever want to see their favorite TV shows again, according to the General Accountability Office.

Many TV viewers who know the future of digital cable are only concerned about it because the TV says they should be. It’s inevitable that at least a few digital cable subscribers out there don’t realize that the boxes which sit atop their TV sets -- the one they point their remote controls at -- are already providing them digital cable. They will not have to do a thing when the switch happens on Feb. 17 (Nov. 9 if they live in Nebraska). The same goes for people who aren’t subscribed to cable, yet own televisions with integrated TV tuners.

Yet the ones who do possess the technology required for the forced digital switch will also be a part of the mass turn-off, but for another reason: service. With the many capabilities of digital television, the responsibility lies in the hands of the telecom companies. Ask any cable subscriber what his or her experience has been like, and you’ll undoubtedly hear stories of choppy picture, poor sound quality, channel-surfing delays and, of course, high prices.

Cable companies and high prices have been associated with one another since the major media mergers that were made possible by the FCC’s Telecommunication Act of 1996, which loosened government-imposed restrictions on big media companies

Of course, the FCC still claims that technological advancements were made in the media as a result of this act. Fortunately, these advancements have paved the way for the embracement of digital cable’s many advantages. Benefits such as hundreds of channels, streaming music channels, dozens of feature length (and sometimes commercial-interrupted) movies and the potential for data streaming have significantly outshot analog’s capabilities.

Still, no one seems to know exactly what this means for the future’s television-viewing experience.

Judging by the way the average digital cable channel looks and operates, there will be a newfound frustration for TV watchers who, at worst, had to adjust antennas. Because of the digital compression of the picture, an overall choppiness can be seen on textures such as shadows and clouds. On top of that, the picture’s signal is plagued with black boxes when it is cutting out -- something that can be extremely common for satellite users who live in stormy areas. The question remains, who wouldn’t turn off their digital cable if it didn’t work in the first place?

As long as the telecom companies can manage their compression-to-channel rates -- which is their relative bandwidth -- and further promote the budding advantages of digital cable and its programming, hopefully they will prevent what is essentially a communicative blackout in the television medium.

According to Factcheck.org, the telecom companies received $3 billion from the U.S. government to make this digital transition as seamless as possible. Hopefully they will earn that money.