A new Forbes story "Mad TV" reports that FCC has passed a regulation that requires "all new TVs must include a tuner that can receive over-the-air digital signals," which will "add $50 apiece ... to the cost of TV sets." The article mentioned FCC's motive is to make sure 85% of household can receive over-the-air digital programming so it can recycle the spectrum currently used by analog signals to that for digital signals.
Yes, the FCC officials must be mad, and cheap too. They do not belong to the 88% homes with cable and satellite access. Who needs reception over the air anyway?