At noon today the local Fox broadcasting affiliate stopped transmitting its programming in the NTSC analog form that has existed unchanged for half a century.

The digital ATSC format which is purely digital is now the only format that programming is provided in within the Uniated States.

So far, despite the hype, I have not seen any new broadcast networks appear in my area thanks to digital television. Instead, I have seen existing stations add one to three new channels.

For me it was no change at all because I started watching television in digital form half a decade ago. I have not watched analog form TV for the past couple of years.

What digital television means to me is that I get a bigger, clearer, sharper, more detailed picture than I did with analog television. Also, when I watch a TV show on my computer, if it has been recorded so I can view it later in case I am busy when it airs - my computer does not have to perform complex analog to digital conversion when recording.

It seems like a nice change. The analog format had extreme limitations compared to what was possible. The digital format puts the USA on par with the rest of the world in terms of state of the art television broadcasting.