[opendtv] Re: Democrats Air Concerns About Analog Switchover

  • From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 19:15:06 -0800

Boss of what?  (She can't even get the quasi-corrupt Murtha elected on her
voice.)

Last I checked, it took 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate, and I
think the caucus chairs are having trouble with even the freshmen.  (Steny
Hoyer's name was put into the ring by (among others) a freshman.)

John Willkie

P.S.  This isn't about the switchover per se, but how much money and effort
the government has or will be put into the boxes.  THEY only WANT TO SPEND
THE MONEY!


-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of John Shutt
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 2:57 PM
To: OpenDTV
Subject: [opendtv] Democrats Air Concerns About Analog Switchover

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.


 
 
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