[opendtv] Dingell Blasts Delays to Digital Transition
- From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:12:11 -0500
From <http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11618> via AVS:
- Tom
--------------------------------------------
February 27, 2007
Dingell Blasts Delays to Digital Transition
By Ira Teinowitz
Increasingly unhappy with the pace of the transition to digital, and
promising that if it isn't righted soon "a scapegoat will be found" and
"people will be voted off the island," Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.,
hinted the scheduled Feb. 17, 2009, switchover date may need delaying.
Story continues below...
Dingell, the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, on Tuesday
addressed the National Association of Broadcasters' state leadership
conference. He said he's concerned that with 10 months to go before
consumers start requesting $40-off coupons for converters that let their
analog TVs see digital signals, the Federal Communications Commission
has yet to set standards for those converter boxes; the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration has yet to provide
firm guidelines for allocating coupons; and broadcasters have not fully
launched their transition information campaign.
"The average American will be annoyed to buy a $50 converter to keep a
$100 television working," he said.
He called informing viewers about the conversion "no small task" and
said the progress so far is "regrettably not sufficient to avoid raising
Americans' ire."
During the speech, Dingell also accused the Bush administration of a
"limited appreciation" of the complexity and sensitivity of the transition."
A delay in the date of the digital switchover would have major effects,
potentially costing the government millions of dollars-some of the
bandwidth offered by analog channels has already been sold in
auctions-to say nothing of the impact on cable providers and broadcasters.
Rep. Dingell told reporters after the speech that he hasn't made a firm
decision on pushing back the date, but he's growing increasingly
restless about the transition's handling.
"I think we are going to have to see," he said. "I think we are going to
have to fix a date that makes sense and [reflects]l that the other
things that have to take place in order to make that date work are being
done."
Rep. Dingell also questioned in his speech whether the FCC had done
enough to outline the public-interest obligations of broadcasters on new
multicasting channels. He said the committee would be closely watching
the outcome of broadcasters' negotiations with cable providers for
retransmission rights.
(Editor: Horowitz)
--
Tom Barry trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx
Find my resume and video filters at www.trbarry.com
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