McCain Pushing For 2007 DTV Transition

Federal lawmakers believe the response to hurricane Katrina was hampered by communication problems among public safety personnel and are pushing for legislation to speed up the transition to Digital TV, which will free up precious analog spectrum for emergency responders.

Congress' target date for the DTV transition was December 31, 2006, but with provisions that allowed seemingly endless extensions of the deadline until 85% of households are able to watch the digital broadcasts using an integrated DTV or set top converter box. That 85% threshold is not believed to be attainable by the 2006 deadline, prompting congress to act again to establish a firm deadline.

Senator John McCain introduced a bill earlier this year that would have ended analog broadcasts and freed up the spectrum on January 1st, 2009. This was considered a "hard date" because rather than allowing extensions based on access to digital signals it contained a provision subsidizing converter boxes to the tune of $463 million. But Katrina changed his mind.

"After watching citizens suffer during recovery efforts in New Orleans, I believe this date should be moved up to January 1, 2007," said McCain.

A new hard date for the DTV transition had been expected to be included in the 2006 Senate Commerce Committee's budget reconciliation. A September deadline for including DTV legislation in the budget reconciliation was pushed back so the senate could focus on legislation aimed at aiding victims of Katrina. The new deadline is October 26.

The broadcast industry had opposed such firm deadlines, but according to reports this summer was prepared to accept the 2009 date. It's unknown how an earlier transition date will sit with broadcasters, but as pressure mounts lawmakers appear to be taking a hard line stance.

"The idea that there's not sufficient spectrum available to our first responders because the broadcast industry is unwilling to commit to the deal they made is beyond me," said Senator Joseph Biden.

Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens is also preparing legislation regarding the DTV transition, but it's not known if he too favors moving up the transition date. Obstacles that will have to be overcome to speed up the transition include reported disagreements between the broadcast and cable industries regarding how many channels cable companies will be required to carry from each local broadcaster, and there is some disagreement among the lawmakers themselves on how much they want to subsidize the converter boxes many consumers will need once the analog signals their TVs require go dark.

Another issue that should not be lost here is that it's a relatively small chunk of the analog spectrum that will go to emergency personnel and "first responders." The rest of the spectrum will be auctioned off and sold. High tech companies seeing opportunities in wireless broadband internet access are champing at the bit to buy it, and are also lobbying to speed up the DTV transition. The Wall Street Journal reports that the federal government expects to rake in between $10 and $30 billion on the spectrum sales.

Seemingly, everybody but the broadcasters is in line to win with a speedier DTV transition. Consumers will have access not only to more HDTV content, but also the increased broadband internet access that will result from the analog spectrum being sold off to the tech industry. And it's not too often lawmakers get a chance to collect such a windfall of cash and declare that public safety is improved as a result. This is about to get very interesting so stay tuned!

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