[opendtv] News: Spectrum Bill Vote Scheduled
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 08:14:25 -0400
Spectrum Bill Vote Scheduled
By Bill McConnell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/21/2004 4:50:00 PM
The Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday is scheduled to vote on
legislation requiring broadcasters to return their old analog
channels to the federal government by Jan. 1, 2009, but even some
fans of the return have problems with the legislation.
The legislation, sponsored by committee chairman John McCain, also
would create a $1 billion fund to cover the cost of either subsidized
converter boxes needed to keep old analog sets working in the
all-digital age or hooking viewers who rely solely on over-the-air
signals to cable.
McCain is pushing the bill, dubbed the SAVE LIVES Act (or the
"Spectrum AVailability for Emergency-response and Law-enforcement to
Improve Vital Emergency Services act), to speed the take-back and get
some of the reclaimed channels into the hands of public safety
departments.
The move would implement an important recommendation of the 9/11
commission, which found that spectrum shortages contributed to
emergency agencies' difficulty in communicating with each other
during the 2001 terrorist attacks.
"Now is the time for congressional action before another national
emergency or crisis takes place," McCain said in a written statement.
The $1 billion TV conversion fund would come from the $30 billion or
more the government expects to generate auctioning portions of the
reclaimed channels to commercial users.
The bill is opposed by consumer activists, who say the $1 billion
fund isn't enough to cover conversion of the 73 million analog TV
sets and no provisions are made to assist alternative media, such as
allocating spectrum for unlicensed communications equipment or
earmarking funds for noncommercial or community media.
The Consumer Federation of American and Free Press said they support
the reallocation of spectrum for public safety, but complained other
provisions of the bill fail to "adequately protect consumers from the
burden of a forced transition to digital broadcasting."
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