Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a “videot.” There is no such thing as too much television. My personality-when split into its definitive sectors-reflects the social mores of Roseanne, Murphy Brown and Martha Stewart.
There are others out there like me*…*who get nervous when the power goes out, who pace when someone else has the remote, who have so many movies and programs on tape that they can’t die until 2160.
The National Association of Broadcasters knows us, and it knows how to play to our fears. Did I reach for the phone immediately upon seeing the commercial mourning the loss of free TV if the mean, old Congress and the Federal Communications Commission mandate a “TV tax,” aka spectrum auctions? You bet I did-but only to hear what propaganda was being espoused by the folks who live by the “not in my backyard” philosophy.
I received a nice letter from a NAB executive vice president (fraught with typos, I might add), saying that “some in Congress and the Administration want to quickly auction off the broadcast spectrum because they think it’s an easy way to raise money for the Federal Treasury.” Gee, where have we heard this before? Didn’t broadcasters always know in their hearts they would be next? The VP added that “a hasty spectrum auction would force consumers to purchase new and expensive digitally compatible equipment not when they choose to*…*but when the government says so.”
The dirty little secret is NAB accepts that auctions will take place; it just wants control over the timetable. Two auction proposals are on the table right now-one that cuts broadcasters over to digital in 2005 and one that holds off for several more years. If Congress opts for the shorter time period and auctions digital spectrum, broadcasters could be forced to pay up. If it goes with the current transition plan, networks and local stations would simulcast for several years; they then would turn off and turn in the old analog channel.
A Washington lawyer with strong broadcast ties reminded me that nearly all mobile operators got their licenses for “free.” True enough, I agreed, counterpointing that all wireless licensees now are paying-or will be paying-megabucks for expansion channels. Even after extensive grassroots lobbying efforts, wireless carriers could not control their own destinies. Can broadcasters’ luck be any better?
Did NAB’s worst-case scenario make me a believer? Have I called Congress and the White House to cry “foul!”? Will I be first in line for a new, overpriced TV? Hardly. Vintage tapes of “Julia Child & Co.” anyone?
