The transition to Digital Television from the current analog system, scheduled to be completed by 2006, is proving a debacle. Just 66,000 receivers capable of pulling digital signals off-the-air have been sold thus far. With 220 million analog television sets currently in use, it doesn't look like the 'transition' will happen any time soon. Problems inherent in federal spectrum policy are at the root of this troubled policy, and no realistic option today is both economically efficient and politically popular.