WASHINGTON-A key Democrat on the House telecommunications subcommittee Thursday put the brakes on setting a hard date for the digital TV transition.
“I think it is impossible to say at this point what the final outcome will be. We don’t know how big the subsidy program will be. I don’t think you can make the transition until you know how many people are covered and how big the bureaucracy will be to facilitate the transition,” Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House telecom subcommittee, told RCR Wireless News following a hearing on setting a hard date.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, didn’t seem to be listening. “I intend to introduce DTV hard-deadline legislation this year,” said Barton. “Clearing the spectrum on an accelerated and nationwide basis with hard-date legislation will raise the money necessary to fund the converter-box program. Without such legislation, this spectrum would remain encumbered for many years and yield far less at auction.”
A preliminary report from the Government Accountability Office said the estimated cost to the federal government under various scenarios of providing subsidies for set-top boxes could range from $460 million to about $2 billion. GAO is preparing a more complete report to be delivered to the House Commerce Committee in July, said Mark Goldstein, GAO director of physical infrastructure.
The cost of the subsidy depends on the cost of set-top boxes and who would be eligible for the help, said Goldstein. Most people believe the cost of a set-top box will be between $50 and $100.
In 1997, Congress said that on Jan. 1, 2007, broadcasters would have to return the extra 6 megahertz of spectrum given to TV broadcasters to facilitate the digital transition. But there was a caveat. TV broadcasters could keep the spectrum if more than 15 percent of the homes in their viewing area could not receive a digital signal.
Removing the caveat has become known as establishing a hard date and has been widely encouraged by the wireless industry.
When Barton first floated using a subsidy to speed along the DTV transition, he said that the subsidy could be paid for using the proceeds from the auction of the spectrum the broadcasters give back but Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) questioned whether this was a good plan. “The cost of the converter boxes could well exceed the revenues from an auction of the spectrum,” said Boucher.
The TV broadcast lobby was the odd-man out at the House telecommunications subcommittee hearing. Of the four witnesses from GAO, LG Electronics, the National Cable Television Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, only the NAB representative did not agree that setting a hard date would move the transition forward.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, told reporters Feb. 9 that he does not favor a hard date. If the House is successful in passing a hard date, it could run into a wall in the Senate because it would have to be approved by Stevens’ committee.
The Federal Communications Commission Feb. 10 said cable companies are constitutionally not required to carry all of the video streams offered by a broadcaster. Broadcasters had sought a ruling where “primary video channel” would be interpreted as all of their video streams.
