I am one of the approximately 70,000 households in The Netherlands affected by this move - there is no analog signal, and I'm too far out in the boonies for cable. Well, that's not exactly accurate, I can stand in front of my house and see the main road about 200 meters away where there is a cable running under the ground. It would cost several thousand euros to get it to my house.

So what about the digital signal, you ask? Well, the last word was, that the tuners were all sold out, and the provider, KPN, couldn't even guarantee that the signal would be available in all areas yet.

Oh yes, and then there's the IPTV offering, also from KPN. I'm talking about true IPTV. To set the record straight, all those podcasts and videocasts, like dl.tv, twit.tv, etc., as great as they are, are not IPTV. IPTV is where your ISP gives you a "tuner" (also a misnomer, but so is "dsl modem") and you plug it into your internet connection and you can "tune" in a whole offering of stations as if you were receiving a signal from the air or from your cable.

Well, I'm also too far out into the boonies to get this. You need to qualify for a 4mbps internet connection before you can even think about signing up for IPTV. Currently I'm at 1500kbps, which is not shabby compared to most American households. Because, after all, in The Netherlands out in the boonies is never really out in the boonies. You could get "lost" here in the "wilderness" and the biggest hazard would be that you accidentally stumbled onto a busy freeway and get killed in the traffic.

Then there's the satellite option, which is the most viable option for me, but also the most expensive up-front. That'll set you back about € 250 whereas the digital (DVB-T) tuners run only about € 90.

"Sigh". Oh well, at least I still have my dvds and iTunes tv downloads. After all, it is almost Christmas, and in the words of the classic Christmas song, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"