[opendtv] News: CEA To Back Ferree TV
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 07:38:37 -0400
CEA To Back Ferree TV
By Bill McConnell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/1/2004 6:17:00 PM
Broadcastingcable.com has learned that TV set makers Wednesday will
conditionally endorse the FCC's controversial plan to speed the DTV
transition during a hearing on Capitol Hill. The conditions for the
endorsement would be tougher obligations on cable operators.
In addition, at least one senior committee member is expected to
endorse the plan.
That plan, developed under Media Bureau Chief Ken Ferree's
leadership, would count all cable subscribers as digitally served by
local broadcasters, even if they don't have a digital set and their
only access to local station's digital broadcasts are cable signals
that have been "downconverted" to analog.
The FCC's plan would let nearly all cable customers be considered
digitally served almost immediately. A 1997 law states that
broadcasters must return their old analog channels to the government
when 85% of U.S. homes are considered capable of receiving a
station's DTV signal.
In most markets, the result of the FCC plan would obligate broadcast
stations to return their old analog channels to the feds at the
government's discretion. Ferree previously has suggested that 2009
would likely be the earliest giveback date.
Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association,
said the his group would be OK with the FCC plan as long as the
agency sets a deadline for making cable stop downconverting and begin
transmitting broadcast high-definition pictures and other digital
features. Also, cable must transmit all V-Chip, Spanish language and
other program-related side information that accompanies the primary
TV picture and audio, CEA will say.
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