Mark Kersey reports on some disheartening news (again) when it comes to HDTV and legislation to make things more difficult for all of us:

Multichannel News reports that the new Digital TV bill nearing final stages of approval in Congress won’t allow the cable industry to downconvert digital signals to analog, meaning that potentially millions of analog customers might have to rent set-top boxes to receive local broadcast signals. The change to the legislation in the conference committee is a victory for the National Association of Broadcasters, who successfully lobbied Senator Judd Gregg (chairman of the Budget Committee) to include the provision in the Senate’s version of the bill.

The final bill should be voted on later this month or early next month.

1080eye - Cable Downconverting Not Allowed Under New DTV Bill