DTV Transition Date Under Fire
March 22, 2005
Washington, D.C. - U.S. House Commerce Committee plans to introduce legislation that complete the transition to digital television by the end of 2006 apparently were made without regard to DTV viewership.
Committee Chairman Joe Barton has said "everybody involved in the issue wants certainty," but at least one group may not be eager for a hard kill date: the folks who currently get their TV from over-the-air analog.
As many as 21 million Americans (approximately 20 percent) currently receive only over-the-air-broadcasts, and will have their sets go dark on the hard date for digital transmsission (Jan. 1, 2007), unless they purchase sets with DTV tuners or A-to-D converters, or subscribe to cable or satellite television services. Some estimates put the number of actual TV sets affected at 73 million.
The Consumer Electronic Association (CEA) says some 16 million DTV units have been sold since their introduction a few years ago.
A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) submitted to the House committee panel puts the cost of a possible subsidy program from as little as $460 million to as much as $10.6 billion.
Last year, the Bush administration said it opposed subsidizing Americans who can't afford DTV sets. Instead, an annual analog spectrum tax on broadcasters who fail to vacate their current spectrum is supported. A $4 to $5 billion windfall is expected from the auction of the returned spectrum.
More Stations Need More Time for For DTV
Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission has adopted an Order granting six-month extensions for 39 commercial television stations to complete construction of their DTV facilities, based upon their inability to complete construction by the current deadline. The Commission said 39 stations made reasonable and diligent efforts, but were unable to complete construction due to circumstances that were either unforeseeable or beyond their control; they were granted a six-month extension. One station was admonished for its failure; it, too, was granted six months to complete construction of DTV facilities.
The FCC also adopted an Order granting six-month extensions for 43 noncommercial television stations were alos granted exteensions based upon their demonstrated inability to complete construction by their current deadline.
The deadline of December 31 was set years ago by Congress, which added an escape clasue at the time - 85 percent of viewers should be able to receive a digital TV signal before pulling the analog plug. While certain markets may be close to that figure, especially if converted transmissions are included, the national average penetration rate is not, observers say.
Digital Flag Critics Want More Time, Too
Also affecting DTV transition issues, a federal appeals court gave consumer advocates two weeks to build up their legal challenge of the FCC's broadcast flag rule, itself designed to limit the copying of digital television programs. The rule requires TV manufacturers to produce sets that can read the digital flag in their DTV sets by July 1 of this year.
Two of the three appeals court judges said on March 15, 2005, that further explanation was needed to prove that opponents such as the American Library Association had legal standing to challenge the rule in court.
During arguments in the case last month, the judges sided with critics of the new rule, who argue that regulators had overstepped their authority. They expressed doubts about whether the FCC had specific authority to dictate how electronic devices must be made.
Engineers Spot Trouble
Those devices may also have to account for unusual artifacts and lip-sync errors being identified by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) in broadcast TV and video production.
The society says there is an increasing awareness, both in broadcasting engineering circles and in the viewing audience, that audio-video synchronization errors in broadcasting, usually seen as lip-sync problems, are occurring more frequently, and with greater magnitude, than ever before. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers S22 Committee on Television Systems Technology has formed an Ad Hoc Group to review all aspects of this problem and make recommendations for solutions.
For more information, visit
www.fcc.gov
or
www.energycommerce.house.gov
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