Joel Brinkley Blog

I live in Washington, DC, and as the old adage goes, the Union is most secure when the Congress is not in session. Well, Congress has been in session more or less continuously for the last few weeks, and, as usual, little good has come of it, even in the home-theater arena. But I've been in Washington long enough to have coined my own truism about life in the nation's capital: Beware any trade group that says it is performing a public service. Usually it is serving only itself.

These are days of uncertainty and foment in the world of digital television. Everything seems to be in flux—except the sales figures for digital TVs. They are on an inexorable climb north. But consider some of the other debates festering under the glitter that manufacturers like to throw into the air.

When the FCC voted to allow cable companies to drop some digital channels, it also struck a blow against creative competition.

Welcome to another month in the copy-protection wars.