The transfer to a digital cable and digital over the air (OTA) broadcast, is a necessary change to handle the increasing change in technology and reduce the about of bandwidth used.

With the new digital signals you will need a QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) tuner to receive digital signals through the cable system (some TVs have this built in). If you have a digital cable box their will be no apparent change because the cable box has the QAM tuner built in.

The paid channels like HBO are also in a QAM signal but they are encrypted. Some TVs have a slot in the back for a cable card this enables the user to insert a card provided by the cable company to de scramble encrypted channels.

There is a downside of having the cable card in the TV; you will not be able to receive the program guide. Therefore, to receive digital cable you will need a cable box or a TV that has a QAM tuner built in.

There is another way to receive digital TV and that is through an antenna. The over the air broadcast system is changing from the NTSC system to the ATSC system. If you receive TV stations from OTA it will be necessary to have an ATSC tuner.

Some TVs have one built in, the other option is to purchase a separate ATSC tuner.

The satellite system is already all digital so anyone with a satellite will see no change.