[opendtv] FCC Chairman, at CES, hedges on shutoff date for analog TV
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:42:18 -0500
FCC Chairman, at CES, hedges on shutoff date for analog TV
David Benjamin
(01/10/2009 7:52 PM EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212701725
LAS VEGAS - -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin
opened the door here Saturday (Jan. 10th) -- if only slightly -- to the
possibility that the FCC might cooperate with the incoming
administration of President-elect Barack Obama in delaying the
nationwide switch-over, scheduled on February 17th, from analog to
digital television broadcast.
The prospect of postponing the widely publicized but oft-delayed digital
conversion emerged Thursday (Jan. 9th) when the head of Obama's
transition team, John Podesta, wrote a letter to key members of Congress
claiming that "the most vulnerable Americans" -- those without satellite
or cable TV service, many elderly or poor or located in remote and
mountainous areas -- were ill-informed and unprepared for the big day.
On Saturday, in a one-on-one session at the Consumer Electronics Show
(CES), Martin defended the FCC and the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) -- the agency responsible for
completing the digital switch. However, Martin faulted a coupon program,
managed by NTIA, that was supposed to provide every
terrestrial-broadcast TV owner a $40 subsidy to buy an analog/digital
conversion box.
As of this week, according to Podesta and other critics, some 7.8
million analog consumers (6.8 percent of all the TVs in the U.S.) lack
conversion boxes, while the NTIA has run out of $40 coupons and has no
money to issue new ones.
Martin agreed that the coupon program has stumbled. "We've seen
increased demand and as a result the program doesn't have enough
resources." In fact, the NTIA has exhausted its budget of $1.34 billion
for conversion boxes and is requesting another $500 million from
Congress.
Asked by his interviewer, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
Chairman Gary Shapiro, if -- despite criticism and the wishes of the
Obama team -- he preferred to 'hold firm" on February 17th, Martin said
he did, but with a Kiplingesque caveat: "if we can figure out how to
solve the coupon problem without moving the date."
Martin, although disappointed in the coupon program, deflected blame
from the NTIA to Congress, which included in its digital conversion
legislation a requirement that all coupons expire within 90 days.
Currently, there are 13 million unredeemed and expired coupons somewhere
in circulation.
Martin then tacitly agreed with Podesta's letter in saying that the
decision on a delay is "up to Congress."
It was impossible to determine, since Shapiro failed to press Martin on
this point, whether the FCC Chairman was thus washing his hands of the
affair, or subtly nudging fellow Republicans in Congress to go along
with Podesta's request to put off the analog shutoff.
Indeed, Podesta'a letter effectively backed the Bush administration and
the FCC into a corner by putting out the word that America is not truly
poised to make the digital leap.
If, as feared, millions of televisions go dark on February 17th and a
public furor follows, the onus has been been fixed squarely on Obama's
White House predecessors.
Martin, who will remain on the FCC after ceding his Chairmanship to an
Obama appointee, insisted that, regardless of current concerns, the Bush
administration had "spent a lot of time and energy making sure that
everyone knows about February 17th." Shapiro noted that public awareness
had recently been measured as high as 95 percent.
However, a hail of criticism preceded Martin's CES appearance.
Two of Martin's fellow FCC commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan
Adelstein, have spoken in support of delaying the analog shutoff.
As early as last September, the Government Accounting Office warned that
the government was unprepared for an anticipated surge in demand for the
$40 coupons -- which are intended to cover the majority of the cost of
conversion boxes priced from $50 to $100.
The waiting list is expected to reach 1.5 million by February 17th.
Referring to a federal auction held last year for the 700 MHz spectrum
that will be freed by the conversion, Joel Kelsey, policy analyst for
the Consumers Union, said, "The federal government is getting $19
billion from selling the analog TV spectrum, while people with analog
TVs have to go out and spend their own money for a converter box.
Everyone affected by the digital switch should be able to get their $40
coupons."
According the the FCC's Martin, however, the result of a delay would be
more dire than proceeding with the switch on schedule. "I am concerned
about the confusion that can be created," he said.
Another argument against delay, not expressed by either Martin or the
CEA's Shapiro, is the eagerness of the corporations that bought the 700
Mhz analog spectrum last year to proceed full speed ahead with their
plans. Among the biggest spenders were AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone.
According to Phil Goldstein of Fierce Wireless, "Verizon had planned to
use the new spectrum allocation to begin laying the groundwork for the
development of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, Verizon's chosen
standard for 4G cellular technology."
Against these best-laid plans are pitted a number of congressional
Democrats, including Sen. John D. Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate
Commerce Committee, whose rural West Virginia constituents are more
likely than many Americans to "go dark" on February 17th.
"The Obama administration," said Rockefeller, "deserves time to bring
order to what has been an appallingly mismanaged process."
All materials on this site Copyright (c) 2009 TechInsights, a Division
of United Business Media LLC. All rights reserved.
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