[opendtv] Re: News: Broadcasters Hit On DTV Transition
- From: "John Willkie" <JohnWillkie@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:21:32 -0800
So, has the CEA, or even a single CEA member, set their deadline for sales
of NTSC sets?
This is non-news.
That said, it would be a good idea for broadcasters to firm up their ideas
for a deadline, but I suspect that they see some structural problems in the
way.
John Willkie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "OpenDTV Mail List" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 9:50 AM
Subject: [opendtv] News: Broadcasters Hit On DTV Transition
> Broadcasters Hit On DTV Transition
>
> March 23, 2005 12:00am
> Source: Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved.
>
> TWICE:
>
> WASHINGTON- Speakers at the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA)
> 10th HDTV Summit, held here, took the broadcasting industry to task
> for failing to join with other industries in seeking a hard cutoff
> date for analog television broadcasting.
>
> "The real issue is not the broadcast industry," said David Donovan,
> MSTV's president. "The real issue is the consumer. When we started
> this process back with the FCC, the goal was to ease the consumer in
> the shift from analog to digital. Over the years things have shifted.
> Now it appears the top priority is spectrum reclamation, which
> understandably is an important goal. But if you are going to make
> that a top priority what you are going to have to do is deal with the
> consumer and make that transition easier."
>
> Arguing on behalf of a hard cutoff date, Rhett Dawson, Information
> Technology Council's president, said, "Nothing focuses the mind like
> the hangman's noose or a date certain. If you give us a date certain,
> I think things will become much more clear, and technology will be
> able to have a slingshot effect into the new changing world."
>
> House Committee on Energy and Commerce's chairman Rep. Joe Barton
> (R-Texas) joined with Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the
> Internet's chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in vowing to draft this
> session legislation to impose a hard analog cutoff date.
>
> Barton said many businesses from multiple industries, except the
> broadcast industry, "want certainty" on the cutoff date rather than
> merely waiting until 85 percent of Americans have digital television
> sets.
>
> Barton said he understands that broadcasters want to maintain the
> value they offer by providing both analog and digital services, "but
> just because it's a good value doesn't mean it's good public policy,"
> he said.
>
> Barton added that his preferences for the bill are to have a Dec.
> 31, 2006, hard cutoff date, omit multicast must carry, and have a
> means test for low-income citizens to qualify for "a rebate" to
> reimburse them for the purchase of a digital to analog converter box.
> The bill would count all digital cable and satellite households as
> DTV households.
>
> Barton estimated the reimbursement would affect between 8 million and
> 10 million households and would cost between $400 million and $500
> million.
>
> "If you auction the spectrum for $5 billion to $17 billion, you can
> afford to pay $400 million or $500 million to make this conversion,"
> he said.
>
> Also calling for a Dec. 31, 2006, cutoff date was U.S. Sen. John
> McCain (R-Ariz.).
>
> "It remains clear to me that now is the time act to expedite the
> completion of this transition," said McCain, who was awarded the 2004
> DTV Government Leadership Award by the Academy of Digital Television
> Pioneers, during the summit proceedings.
>
> "We need to take care of Americans with fixed incomes as we undertake
> this transition," said McCain. "I pledge to continue to work on
> behalf of the over-the-air viewers to ensure that no viewers are left
> behind."
>
> Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), chairman of the subcommittee on
> Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness, urged the audience to
> contact their legislators to support the forthcoming hard-date
> legislation, adding that any senators contacted should be reminded to
> make sure the bill stays clean of any "poison pill" pork-barrel
> riders that might threaten its acceptance.
>
> Meanwhile, former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman
> Dick Wiley cautioned against arriving at a cut-off date too quickly.
>
> "We can't just pluck these dates out of the air," Wiley said during a
> breakfast speech at the Summit. "We can't be precipitous or cavalier.
> We have to get a date that makes sense, and it has to end the
> transition in a way that serves not just political and budgetary
> considerations, but serves technology, the marketplace" and the
> viewing public.
>
> Wiley suggested that by issuing a date far enough in advance,
> manufacturers would have time to produce an ample supply of
> affordable digital-to-analog conversion devices to meet the needs of
> consumers faced with losing programming. He later suggested a firm
> cutoff date of 2009 or 2010.
>
> On another pending DTV topic, CEA's president/CEO Gary Shapiro
> reminded the audience that the FCC is soon scheduled to decide on the
> CEA's request to adjust the next phase of the DTV tuner mandate to
> require all television sets with screen sizes 25 inches to 35 inches
> to have ATSC tuners by March 1, 2006. Currently, 50 percent of all
> such TVs are to have tuners by July 1, growing to 100 percent by July
> 1, 2006.
>
> "If the FCC grants this petition, we believe it will allow for us to
> sell an additional 3.3 million integrated DTV sets this year, as
> manufacturers work toward that accelerated 100 percent threshold,"
> Shapiro said.
>
> Saying the digital television transition is now "well past the
> tipping point," Shapiro released the following CEA market forecasts:
>
> More than 3 million households have an ATSC tuner, growing to 16
> million units by the end of the year, according to CEA market
> research.
>
> Seventy-one percent of consumers who were thinking about buying a new
> TV are planning to purchase a digital cable-ready set.
>
> In 2004 the industry sold 1 million digital-cable-ready DTV sets,
> and the CEA forecasts that to triple in 2005.
>
> The CEA said that more 16.5 million digital television products have
> been sold since the DTV launch in 1998, representing almost $26
> billion in cumulative revenues and means the consumer investment in
> digital television is more than $30 million.
>
> CEA market research predicts 20.2 million DTV products will be sold in
2005.
>
> This year consumers will buy more digital televisions than analog
> televisions, for the first time.
>
> (For coverage of the IP & ©reatvity Conference, held the next day,
> see www.TWICE.com and the April 4 print edition.)
> DTV Academy Presents Annual Awards Greg Tarr
>
> WASHINGTON - The Digital Television Academy presented its 2004
> Academy of Digital Television Pioneers Awards during the Consumer
> Electronics Association's tenth-annual HDTV Summit, held last week at
> the Washington D.C. Convention Center.
>
> The awards, presented during a luncheon honoring the DTV Academy,
> recognized achievements made throughout 2004 in 10 categories:
>
> Best DTV Over the Air Network : CBS
>
> Best DTV Cable System : Comcast
>
> Best DTV Cable or Satellite Service : DirecTV
>
> Best DTV Satellite Programmer : ESPN
>
> Best DTV Sporting Event : CBS, for Super Bowl XXXVIII
>
> Best Original DTV Material : (tie) CBS, for CSI, and ESPN, for HD Sport
Center
>
> Best DTV Journalism : HDTV Insider
>
> Best Industry DTV Leadership : Peter Fannon, Panasonic Corporation of
> North America
>
> Best Government DTV Leadership : Sen. John McCain
>
> Best Retail DTV Leadership : Best Buy
>
> The annual DTV Awards are independently voted on and bestowed by the
> DTV Academy - a select group of 203 individuals who have played a
> significant role in the decade-long effort to make digital television
> a reality for consumers. The DTV Academy represents excellence in all
> aspects of digital content development and delivery,
> analog-to-digital transition leadership and the manufacture of
> high-definition television (HDTV) products. More than half of the 203
> DTV Academy members are individuals outside the consumer electronics
> industry.
>
> << Copyright ©2005 Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved. >>
>
>
>
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