“The Digital Revolution is here”, intone the advertisements. And, as tends to happen in the midst of any declared revolution, the ordinary person’s attitude veers somewhere between confused interest and boredom.

But it is “here”, we are told from on high, and we’d all better get in the know soon, or else…!

The essential innovation of digital T.V., “the biggest development in T.V. since the introduction of colour”, is that geography is irrelevant to reception.

So, whether your abode is on the top floor of a high-rise apartment block or in a rural valley in the-middle-of-nowhere, “pin-sharp” T.V. pictures are assured, as well as “C.D.–quality” sound.

Television in the new millenium will also mean ‘interactive’ T.V., which will provide services such as home shopping (already a norm in the U.S.), home banking, home study and interactive game-shows.

Imagine that in the house this Christmas. Now, doing the Christmas shopping through the television, I could buy that!

In fact, you will get a guided tour of the shop from the television. When you have made your interactive purchases, they will be delivered soon after.

Another promised feature is an E.P.G. (Electric Programming Guide) which will, among other things, serve to remind the viewer that a certain programme on another channel is about to start.

But above all else, don’t let this attempt at a summing-up mislead you into thinking that digital is just another piece of high-tech gadgetry.

You may consider yourself to be something of a genius having gotten your head ‘round all that your video recorder can do.

But take a close look at the requisite ‘Set-Top Box’ – which looks not unlike a video recorder, by the way – and you’ll be completely flummoxed by the sheer array of slots, ports, dials, input/output and miscellaneous socketry.

The terrestrial channels – Channel 4, etc. – that we’re all used to will also come under the umbrella of digital. A big umbrella: we’re talking hundreds of channels here. Cartoon channels, comedy channels, travel channels, history channels, a country music channel, a Christian channel, more film channels, more sports channels, a sports news channel and news, news, news…!

Competition and choice, it is argued can only be good for television. Look, for example, at the tripe being churned out by our own R.T.E., just because they have a monopoly on audiences in two-channel-land areas of rural Ireland.

On the other hand, Dire Straits had a hit single in the 80’s called ‘Fifty-seven Channels and Nothing On’ – and no, they weren’t promoting nudism!