WASHINGTON-The digital transition is not going as well as TV broadcasters-the same people who will not commit to an end to the transition-want policy-makers to believe, said the Digital Transition Coalition Monday.
“This analysis paints a stark picture of the digital transition in this country. It illustrates once and for all that the transition to digital TV is behind schedule and continues to exclude millions of Americans-especially those in rural areas-and this is happening despite the fact that the nation’s broadcasters were supposed to be broadcasting their DTV service at full power by 2002,” said George Landrith of Frontiers of Freedom, a member of the Digital Transition Coalition.
The Digital Transition Coalition submitted maps to the Federal Communications Commission that showed that more than 36 percent of Americans couldn’t receive the digital signal of at least one of the networks in their areas.
The maps are available at www.iwantmyhdtv.com.
The Senate Commerce Committee is expected to consider legislation-the Save Lives Act-Wednesday that would move the end of the DTV transition from 2007 to 2009 and use auction proceeds to subsidize low-income American’s purchases of DTVs, digital converters, cable or satellite. The committee held a hearing recently on The Homeland Emergency Response Operations Act, commonly known as the Hero Act, which would keep the original 2007 end-date. The Hero Act, introduced in March 2003 by Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), has been endorsed by the 9/11 Commission.
TV broadcasters were given one channel-6 megahertz-of spectrum to complete the DTV transition.
Congress dictated that 24 megahertz of the returned spectrum be allocated to public safety with a portion going to interoperability. The rest was to be auctioned. The FCC has auctioned some spectrum but the mobile-phone industry has pressed the government to not hold any more auctions until a hard date to end the transition is set.
Congress set Dec. 31, 2006, as the date for the DTV transition to be complete, but gave the broadcasters a huge loophole. Broadcasters are not required to return the 6 megahertz of spectrum they were given to facilitate the transition until 85 percent of the homes in their viewing areas are capable of receiving digital signals, but technically they must ask for extensions.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell has endorsed an FCC Media Bureau proposal that would set Jan. 1, 2009, as the end of the transition. The Save Lives Act-Spectrum Available for Emergency Response and Law Enforcement to Improve Vital Emergency Services-adopts the 2009 date but does not accept the Media Bureau proposal because it allows low-income residents to receive subsidies to either purchase DTV converter boxes or for one-time only installations of cable or satellite services.
