[ARRL-OK] House Approves DTV Delay

[Mark D. Conklin N7XYO]

House Approves DTV Delay

By Roy Mark
2009-02-04

Legislation moving the digital television transition from Feb. 17 to June
12 now moves to the White House where President Barack Obama is expected
to sign the bill. Democrats insist the delay is necessary and will be for
one time only since public safety officials and winners of the 700 MHz
spectrum auction are waiting to occupy the analog spectrum being deserted
by television broadcasters.

The U.S. House of Representatives Feb. 4 voted, 264-158, to move the
digital television transition from Feb. 17 to June 12, joining the U.S.
Senate in approving a 115-day delay for television stations to begin
exclusively broadcasting in digital.

Democrats cast 241 votes for the DTV delay while House Republicans voted
solidly against the DTV delay with 148 casting negative votes. The
legislation now heads to the White House, where President Obama is
expected to sign the delay into law.

"This delay is absolutely necessary and will be for one time only," said
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), chairman of the House Telecom  Subcommittee. "We
are now less than two weeks from the February 17 digital television
transition date, and millions of households remain unprepared."

Boucher said the most recent Nielsen survey showed 5.7 percent of the
viewing public, or 6.5 million households, are "totally unprepared" for
the digital transition. In order for consumers to receive digital
television signals, consumers who solely depend on over-the-air signals
for television reception must buy a digital television set or a digital
converter box for their analog sets. Consumers who use cable or satellite
service are not affected by the change.

Prompted by a Jan. 5 announcement by the NTIA (National Telecommunications
and Information Administration) that funds for the $1.34 billion subsidy
digital converter box program were exhausted, Obama and Democrats in the
House and Senate immediately began clamoring for a delay, insisting that
sticking to the Feb. 17 deadline would create consumer confusion.

"If almost six percent of the nation's households lose all TV service, I
think most people would declare the digital TV transition to be a
failure," said Boucher. "It's clear that the only way to avoid a massive
disruption affecting 5.7 percent of the TV viewing public is to delay the
transition and provide the funding to assure that, when it occurs, it
occurs smoothly."

The DTV delay bill does not include any funds for additional digital
converter boxes, but the House stimulus package passed Jan. 28 includes
$650 million for more coupons. Democrats also said the FCC's (Federal
Communications Commission) call centers to handle DTV transition question
were woefully ill prepared.

"Beyond the converter box program, which is at a standstill, more
resources will be needed to staff the FCC's call centers where waiting
times are very long, calls are frequently disconnected and it is very
difficult to speak to a live technical service representative," Boucher
said. "Only by delaying the transition and utilizing the $650 million
contained in the economic recovery bill to address these problems can
massive viewer disruption be avoided."

While Senate Republicans raised few objections to the DTV delay, House GOP
members bitterly opposed the move, claiming the nation was as ready as it
could be for the digital transition. "If the new standard is 100 percent
[readiness], we're not going to be there on June 12 or June 12, 2010,"
said Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.).

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the former chairman of the House Telecom
Subcommittee and current ranking member, insisted a $250 million infusion
into the digital converter box fund would facilitate keeping the Feb. 17
deadline.

"The DTV converter coupon program is not out of money; only half of the
$1.5 billion in the coupon program has been spent," Barton said. "This
delay is not necessary; nor is the $650 million in the stimulus needed."

Boucher, though, said there is not enough time left before Feb. 17 to make
Barton's plan work.

"The provision of more money now without moving the transition date would
not avoid viewer disruption," Boucher said. "It takes one week to process
1.6 million coupon requests,
and so in the 13 days before the transition, the backlog of 3.7 million
requests could not be processed even if more money for the program is
provided."

Boucher added that beyond the processing time, more time would be needed
for mailing the coupons and even more time would be needed for consumers
to receive the coupons and actually redeem the coupons.

The House debate represented the first discussion of the bill in either
the House or the Senate. Hearings were not held in either chamber and the
Senate version was approved on a unanimous voice vote without discussion.