Digital TV Still Facing Hurdles

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Byline: William Glanz

Retail sales of digital televisions eclipsed 1 million this year, nearly three years after the first one sold at a San Diego electronics store in 1998.

While the industry considers that a significant milestone, other hurdles are preventing consumers from embracing a technology that promises a picture far better than the analog signal broadcasters beam to televisions now.

Lack of content, the cost of the televisions and the absence of digital programming from local broadcasters on cable-television systems all have stunted digital television's growth, panelists said yesterday at a summit on digital television sponsored by the Consumer …