I agree I think the reasoning behind the VHF/UHF decision was money, the high UHF band would bring in a lot more cash for the FCC then the much lower VHF band, so rather then decide what works best for the customer, they decided what would allow them to offer the largest executive bonuses. 

I think some of the most bone headed digital decisions were made so that it closely mirrored the analog system, even where it made no sense to do so. 

For example, there is no real technical reason to stay with the 6MHz channel spacing, although you probably want to stay within even multiples, so 2MHz or 3MHz would work, even 4MHz works, but limits the number of digital channels until the cut over.   Say they used 3MHz and numbered the channels starting at 101, even forgetting the VHF band, and the missing UHF channels, you still would have more then 70 channels.  Using channel numbers in the range 101-199 would make it easier for cable companies, in that they could have left that block open for local digital terrestrial stations.