[opendtv] Re: Dueling Statutes?

This isn't a case of dueling statutes. The CECB statute didn't require
analog (failure of advocacy on the part of CBA), but it didn't forbid it.

The acra has been construed by the courts to permit the FCC to require
digital tuners in all TV sets.  It's been a few years since I read that
court decision, but I'm relatively certain the CBA doesn't have the grounds
to stop the converter box program through injunctive relief, even if they
win on the merits at some point in the future.

The president of the CBA in 1994 was concerned about how the transition to
digital (before anything was set in stone) would affect LPTV and
translators.  The management of the CBA since that time has been 'worried'
about such phony things as class-A status, and their own political careers.

This is not to criticize current CBA leadership; they just realized the
battle too late to probably change anything.  This issue was clearly
foreseeable, and the machinations were being written about not only in the
trade press, but in the general press.

John Willkie



-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Craig Birkmaier
Enviado el: Friday, March 28, 2008 7:35 AM
Para: OpenDTV Mail List
Asunto: [opendtv] Dueling Statutes?

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6545503.html?display=Breaking+New
s&referral=SUPP&nid=2228

NTIA to Review Microtune DTV-Converter-Box Test Results
National Telecommunications and Information Administration Eyes 
Digital-TV-to-Analog Converters on Store Shelves

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/27/2008 12:19:00 PM

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said 
it will review test results submitted by tuner company Microtune that 
suggested that the digital-TV-to-analog converter boxes the NTIA has 
approved don't measure up, and it will audit boxes currently on the 
shelves, if necessary.

Microtune said the tuners it built into nine of the 60 or so boxes 
that qualify for a $40 government subsidy work fine, but five boxes 
it tested off the shelf with other tuners in them did not and might 
fail to pick up some DTV-station signals. It asked the NTIA to audit 
the boxes currently on the shelves and decertify any that failed to 
meet the standards.

The NTIA is overseeing the program supplying $40 coupons toward the 
purchase of eligible boxes -- essentially basic models without extra 
features -- that will allow analog TVs to receive over-the-air 
digital broadcasts when full-power TV stations switch to all-digital 
broadcasting in February 2009.

NTIA spokesman Bart Forbes said all of the boxes the NTIA certified 
were rigorously tested and passed those tests, but he conceded that 
"the question is what is on the store shelves, and that is what we 
will follow through on." He said the NTIA could test the boxes on the 
market if it needed to.

Microtune argued that there might be a difference between the models 
submitted for testing and the ones that made it to the shelves. 
Microtune president Jim Fontaine pointed out to B&C that the program 
relies on self-testing by the manufacturers of their boxes and that 
the NTIA made it clear that "you cannot provide 'golden units' that 
work very well in the [NITA] test and not make sure that works in 
production."

"We appreciate that Microtune is bringing this to our attention," 
Forbes said. "We would like to see their test results [Microtune says 
it has supplied them] and compare them with our tests of all of the 
coupon-eligible converter boxes. We will evaluate the boxes 
accordingly."

NTIA's rules for the program make it clear that it has the authority 
to test, retest, and decertify boxes if need to to ensure quality 
control.

According to those rules: "NTIA reserves the right to test CECBs as 
an additional means to assure that converters made available to the 
public meet NTIA's specifications.  NTIA may select converters to 
test at any time during the course of the coupon program.  If a 
converter box appears not to meet NTIA's technical specifications, 
NTIA will follow a process similar to that used by the FCC in 
consulting with the manufacturer.  If a converter box model is 
subsequently found not to meet the features and performance 
specifications set forth in the Final Rule, that model will no longer 
will no longer be eligible for the coupon program."

The converter boxes are under fire on another front, as well. The 
Community Broadcasters Association went to court to block 
distribution of boxes that do not pass through analog signals, 
although it targeted the Federal Communications Commission rather 
than the NTIA.

Acting NTIA head Meredith Atwell Baker said she would "defer to the 
FCC on the pending litigation" -- the FCC isn't commenting. But an 
NTIA source suggested that its reading of the law is that there are 
dueling statutes.

The CBA cited the 1962 All-Channel Receiver Act, which pertained to 
the requirement that all TVs be able to receive all frequencies, 
including the nascent UHF channels. But the statute establishing the 
converter-box-coupon program said the boxes need only receive and 
convert digital channels. "This is not our fight," he said.

In a statement, Baker sounded like it was full-steam ahead: "We will 
continue to move forward on certifying converter boxes to enable the 
digital-television transition. We will continue to work with the 
low-power community to help educate them that their viewers will need 
to purchase a converter box with low-power pass-through capability."
 
 
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