A group of U.S. high-tech heavyweights on Wednesday urged Congress to set a firm date for the transition to digital signals for television broadcasts, saying it’s critical for innovation and jobs, reports the AP.
The High Tech DTV Coalition, launched Wednesday, includes Dell Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Qualcomm Inc.
The group’s executive director, Janice Obuchowski, who has been mentioned as a possible future Federal Communications commissioner, said “we have had 88 megahertz of spectrum lying fallow,” referring to a swath of the 700 megahertz band currently occupied by broadcasters.Once television signals are switched to digital from analog, that spectrum would be freed up. Auctioning parts of the spectrum to the private sector for use in advanced telecommunications services could bring in $20 billion to $30 billion to the government, Obuchowski estimated.
“Not only will (the spectrum) lead to viable competition to existing broadband providers, it will also reach far into rural areas, at relatively low cost, giving consumers in underserved areas broadband options that they have never had before,” Intel Chief Executive Craig Barrett said.
Public safety officials have also said that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks highlighted the need for additional spectrum to allow emergency first responders to communicate.
The coalition backs efforts by House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, to set a firm transition date of Dec. 31, 2006. Under current law, the digital transition will occur on that date but with the critical caveat that 85 percent of homes be ready to receive digital signals either by owning a digital television or converter box. Barton wants to drop that caveat.
HDTV Magazine reprints the letter from NAB’s CEO, Eddie Fritts is in response to the High-Tech DTV Coalition seeking a December, 2006 date for the shut off of analog TV in the United States. The NAB and Maximum Service tv lobby argue:
The Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP) has written to ask that you pass legislation aimed at “completing the DTV transition as soon as possible.” Local broadcasters are strongly supportive of efforts to bring this transition to a timely conclusion, and NAB stands ready to work with this Committee to accomplish that goal.However, we also agree with the many members of Congress who have expressed concern that a premature end to analog television would be terribly disruptive to millions of Americans. Our viewers are your constituents, and we believe that an overriding priority in ending this transition must be the protection of consumers against losing access to local television.
…CSPP wrongly asserts that local stations’ occupation of TV spectrum band is hindering the rollout of public safety communications interoperability. The fact of the matter is that in the ten cities most likely to be struck by a terrorist attack, the communications interoperability issue has been resolved. In September 2004, USA Today reported that then-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced that in 10 of the cities considered at highest risk for a terrorist attack, firefighters, police and other emergency responders in charge during a disaster can now talk to each other to coordinate a quick response. (See attached article)…
Radio and television broadcasters get their licenses for free.
Broadcasting & Cable lists the top-25 broadcast groups, based on their FCC-discounted national coverage (the FCC counts UHF coverage as only half the market). Here are the top-10 (and Sinclair, which has a low FCC ranking because of its UHF stations): Group # of stations FCC coverage Full coverage 1. Viacom 35 38.9% 43.35% 2. Fox 35 38.27% 44.97% 3. NBC 30 33.99% 39.08% 4. Paxson 52 31.59% 63.18% 5. Tribune 26 30.24% 40.58% 6. ABC 10 23.55% 23.79% 7. Univision 37 22.88% 43.9% 8. Gannett 20 17.89% 18.06% 9. Trinity 23 17.1% 34.2% 10. Hearst-Argyle 27 16.35% 17.67% 13. Sinclair 57 12.82% 22.58% The top-10 have 295 station. With Sinclair, it's 352. The top 25 have 627.
ATSC, the U.S. HDTV standard, was developed by the royalty owners of the merged system. It does not do mobility. The $99 Freeview box in England delivers dozens of free DTV channels - without a rooftop antenna. ATSC tuners, cost at least twice as much, and their reception is often worse.
DVB, the world’s dominant DTV standard, is also a U.S. standard for cable boxes. ATSC tuners such as the HFA100 ($200) will appeal primarily to owners of HDTV-ready TVs who want to take advantage of high-def local broadcasts.
Lee Wood’s Digital Television-HDTV Forum is the definitive news feed for DTV issues while Mark Shubin’s Monday Memo has a comprehensive news summary.
Related DailyWireless stories include; The 700 Mhz Club, The Unlicensed Band: Sum of All Fears.
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