OK, so you have your brand new HDTV or are seriously thinking about getting one soon. That's a great decision because this new television technology is going to quickly become the standard for broadcasting television signals. In fact by 2007 all television broadcasting will have switched over to digital format under the direction of the FCC, and that paves the way for high definition television to become the accepted norm.



So how do you actually get the HDTV signal then? Well, there are different ways to do that and the best decision for you probably depends most on where you live. If you live in close proximity to television stations that broadcast HDTV programming then all you will need is a television that already has a HDTV tuner built in to be able to receive and display high definition broadcasts, and a suitable antenna. However, you will be limited to receiving only a small group of local stations.

For most people, the best solution is to become a subscriber to either a cable TV or satellite service, because they offer many more channels of entertainment and news that broadcast in HDTV. To receive the signal from these providers you only need to have a television set that is HDTV "capable", or in other words, all that is needed to process high definition programming is an external receiver or tuner. Just like the ones provided by cable and satellite companies.

The other advantage of having the HDTV capable television set is that as the technology improves, you can simply upgrade the receiver as your programing provider makes the new tuners available, usually at very little or even no cost since you continue to use their service.

You can also use cable or satellite service if you have the HDTV tuner already installed inside your TV, but why pay for the tuner if you get the same thing from your programming provider instead?

So in summary, you can get HDTV programming either by antenna through local TV broadcasts, or broaden your channel selection and HDTV choices through either a satellite or cable TV company.