WASHINGTON-The House of Representatives said Friday the transition to digital TV should end Dec. 31, 2006.
“It is the sense of Congress that the Communications Act should be amended to eliminate the 85-percent penetration test and to require broadcasters to cease analog transmissions at the close of Dec. 31, 2006, so that the spectrum can be returned and repurposed for important public-safety and advanced-commercial uses,” according to the amendment offered by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Commerce Committee.
As it stands today, TV broadcasters must return the six megahertz of spectrum they were given to complete the transition on Jan. 1, 2007, or when 85 percent of the homes in their viewing areas are capable of receiving digital, whichever is later. Public-safety operators and commercial wireless carriers both want access to the 700 MHz spectrum.
The “Sense of the Congress” does not eliminate the 85-percent threshold, but rather sends a signal that lawmakers believe the DTV transition should come to a timely conclusion and should not be done piecemeal. The Senate last month sacrificed commercial spectrum users in an attempt to require TV broadcasters to give back spectrum in the 700 MHz band if public-safety users need for it.
Both the House and the Senate have now amended legislation resulting from the 9/11 Commission Report, and the two bills must be reconciled in conference. Barton’s amendment signals a preference that all of the spectrum-not just the public-safety spectrum-be returned.
“Proposals to require broadcasters to return, on a date certain, just the spectrum earmarked for future public-safety use also would neither address the DTV transition in a comprehensive fashion,” reads the amendment.
Barton told his colleagues Thursday that Congress will need to soon act on a plan to finish the DTV transition.
“The Barton nonbinding resolution lays out the path to finalize the digital transition, provide spectrum for public safety in a timely manner, make spectrum available for new uses such as wireless broadband and prevent TV sets from going dark,” said Barton in a letter sent to all members of the House.
The DTV transition has received a lot of political clout because solving the public-safety interoperability crisis was recommended in the 9/11 Commission Report. Public safety is slated to receive 24 megahertz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band with some set aside for interoperability once the transition to DTV is complete.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell said he doesn’t know when the transition to digital TV will end because the Federal Communications Commission has yet to determine how it plans to count to the magic 85-percent number.
Nevertheless Powell launched a consumer-education campaign on the DTV transition because the transition is finally beginning.
Powell said there are several theories on how to count to 85 percent. But if people believe the DTV transition will not be a success or completed until every TV set in the nation is capable of receiving a digital signal, it would take 50 years to complete the transition.
“We should not lose site that the spectrum is a loan,” given to TV broadcasters, said Powell.
The public-education campaign included Powell’s press conference, the launch of a new Web site at www.dtv.gov and an appearance on Monday Night Football.
