Meet the new boss...
John
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11084
Democrats Air Concerns About Analog Switchover
By Ira Teinowitz
On the eve of their takeover of the House, Democrats on Thursday raised new
issues about the government's plan to manage the switchover from analog to
digital TV in 2009 and hinted that the switch could be delayed if the
program isn't handled right.
"Failure to devise a consumer-friendly converter box program, or to inform
consumers properly of its existence, could significantly jeopardize the
public's acceptance of the transition and derail the firm deadline," said
incoming House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich.,
and committee Democrats in a letter to the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration. The NTIA is the president's principal adviser on
telecommunications policy.
Democrats have been critical of the Republicans' plan for the switchover,
suggesting insufficient money has being set aside to provide converter boxes
to analog households or to publicize the switch. The new letter signals that
those concerns will continue in the next Congress, when the Democrats take
charge.
"We continue to believe this plan is highly flawed and disadvantages the
poor, the elderly, minority groups, and those with multiple analog
television sets in their home," the letter states.
The Democrats didn't propose to immediately change the Feb. 17, 2009,
switchover date. Instead, their concerns are whether offering $40 coupons
for converters only to homes without cable or satellite is sufficient,
whether the government needs to require that converter boxes don't provide
downgraded signals, and that the $5 million spending on a consumer education
touting the change is "woefully inadequate for such a broad and fundamental
change."
The government's limiting the boxes to over-the-air households "would
unfairly disenfranchise consumers who possess perfectly functioning analog
televisions," according to the letter. "Consumers who have purchased analog
[TVs] deserve a government backed plan to hold them harmless in this
transition."
The letter said the converter boxes "at a minimum [should] replicate the
picture and audio quality consumers experience today when watching their
analog televisions," and called on the agency to see that the government's
$5 million public education effort is bolstered by industry efforts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
