[opendtv] News: Dingell Upset with NTIA's DTV Box Rules
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:18:02 -0500
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6423691.html?display=Breaking+News
Dingell Upset with NTIA's DTV Box Rules
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rips Bush Administration
By Ted Hearn3/12/2007 10:20:00 PM
House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.)
Monday criticized key portions of the Bush administration's $1.5
billion program to help millions of consumers fund the purchase of
converter boxes that will keep analog-TV sets working after the
termination of analog TV in early 2009.
Dingell was upset because the Commerce Department's rules would
disqualify cable- and satellite-TV homes from seeking financial
assistance if the 15-month program spends more than $990 million.
Only homes that rely exclusively on free, over-the-air-television
could seek any of the remaining $510 million.
"After the administration opposed Democratic efforts to secure
sufficient funding in favor of more tax cuts, the administration now
shows newfound concern that not all households will be covered,"
Dingell said in a prepared statement. "If the administration believes
additional funds are needed to prevent consumers' television sets
from going dark, then it should ask the Congress for such funding."
The Commerce Department's rules were announced by Assistant Secretary
for Communication and Information John Kneuer.
The analog-TV cutoff is to occur by law on Feb. 17, 2009. Under law,
Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, also headed by Kneuer, had to come up with consumer
eligibility rules, which would determine who could apply for two $40
coupons beginning in January 2008
Although the program can fund about 33 million boxes (after all
administrative costs), U.S. TV households have about 73 million
analog-TV sets that rely exclusively on over-the-air broadcast TV,
with about 45 million analog TVs in the 20 million homes that don't
subscribe to cable or satellite TV.
Dingell and other House Democrats have been concerned that the
digital-TV-transition plan passed last year by a
Republican-controlled Congress failed to provide enough money to
ensure a smooth transition to digital-only broadcasting.
"The proposed [NTIA] plan arbitrarily limits consumer eligibility for
the program after the first $990 million is spent. This is likely to
increase consumer confusion about who is eligible for coupons and
when they are eligible," said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) chairman
of the House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, in a
prepared statement.
Markey said he would soon hold hearings on the NTIA's rules.
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