- Office of Engineering and Technology Digital Television Consumer Information November 1998 The arrival of digital television ( DTV ) this fall promises to be one of the most significant developments in television technology since the advent of color television in the 1950's. DTV has the capability to provide clearer and sharper, cinema-like pictures as well as multi-channel, CD-quality sound. It ...www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Factsheets/dtv9811.html