I can get a deep-fried Twinkie delivered to my front door in 20 minutes. I can start a class-action lawsuit against trans-fat makers from the comfort of my sofa, then get my tummy tucked before lunch. In a land where instant gratification is practically part of the constitution, the transition to digital television was never going to be a drawn-out process, which is why the entire country is hurtling towards an all-or-nothing switchover on February 17 next year. Overnight, traditional TV signals will be turned off, leaving any American without a digital receiver staring at a blank screen.

Just to remind you, the point of digital switchover is to improve broadcast quality and to free up bandwidth, which can be used for new services. The federal government is approaching the day with all the subtlety of a military campaign. There are big ads and flashy websites, of course, and a sensible law has ensured that every new TV sold since March 2007 is digital-ready. Perhaps most remarkably, viewers are being paid to watch TV. Every household can apply for up to two $40 (£20) vouchers towards the cost of digital set-top boxes.

Compare that with the British digital switchover, which is happening at the pace of a cricket Test match - including breaks for tea. There hasn’t been as much as a penny from the Treasury to help people buy new equipment, while the publicly funded BBC has blown £200m on an ad campaign so incomprehensible that half the TV sets sold in the UK last year weren’t digital-ready.

It makes you wonder how the Americans, with a disparate and fragmented broadcasting system, can get their act together while in Britain, with a public broadcasting behemoth, things move at a glacial place.

seattle@sunday-times.co.uk

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