Why did the govt have to make a law to switch to digital broadcasting?

Question

Are they up to their dirty tricks or whats going on?

Answer 1

No they did it right this time.  The nation is going to digital (finally...Japan had it 15 years ago) broadcasting and if the government didn't intervene and make a law that all broadcasting be digital then there would be a mess.  Some sets would be analog. Some sets would be digital. The law makes them all digital and the government will issue some kind of rebate to buy the box that makes your set receive digital programs. When Japan decided to go digital they didn't make a law or help the consumers who had older analog sets.  They went digital and if you didn't buy a new set you were in trouble. The older analog sets were discarded.  

Answer 2

supposedly its better for the emergency frequencies or something like that

Answer 3

Digital TV is higher quality and takes up less bandwidth, freeing up space on the spectrum for other uses.