[SBE] Ready to turn analog back on?

[Keith Kintner]

Here's another link to a Broadcasting & Cable Article:

  http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6537709.html


  Keith Kintner
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----- Original Message ----
From: "A9xw at cs.com" <A9xw at cs.com>
To: sbe at sbe.org
Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 12:03:47 PM
Subject: Re: [SBE] Ready to turn analog back on?

FCC Wants to Do Test Run of Digital Changeover




    


    
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The transition to digital broadcasting is the biggest 
thing to hit television since color. To make sure it goes smoothly, the Federal 
Communications Commission wants to do a test run.

The digital shift will happen nationwide next February. Viewers who don't 
have a digital set and watch shows via an antenna will lose their picture unless 
they buy a converter box. 

The changeover has members of Congress and the FCC worried that irate viewers 
with no picture will direct their anger at Washington. 

FCC commissioner Michael Copps suggested a test run in certain markets, prior 
to the national shift, would be a good idea. He explained his idea Monday in 
a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. 

"Broadway shows open on the road to work out the kinks before opening night," 
he wrote. "The DTV transition deserves no less." 

Copps noted that other countries, like the United Kingdom, have made the 
shift in stages and that the "single transition date does not afford us the luxury 
of a built-in learning curve." 

Martin, in a reply letter, said Copps had presented some "interesting ideas 
that I am in favor of pursuing, including switching a small number of test 
markets to all-digital service before February 17, 2009." 

On Feb. 18, all full-power broadcast television stations will stop 
transmitting an analog signal. Viewers with cable or satellite television will not be 
affected. Over-the-air viewers will need a converter box, which the government 
will help pay for. 

A test run would present challenges, Martin noted. It would require the 
"voluntary participation of an entire community or market." Martin said he will ask 
the agency's digital transition task force to begin exploring how such field 
tests could be done. 

Also on Monday, the agency released its long-awaited plan to educate 
consumers about the digital shift. 

The plan requires broadcasters to air public service announcements and 
"crawls" that run across the bottom of the screen informing consumers of the shift. 

Commercial broadcasters were given the option of adopting an FCC plan or one 
put forward by the National Association of Broadcasters. Last October, the NAB 
unveiled a voluntary public service campaign it valued at $697 million. 

The broadcast lobbying group had resisted mandatory education requirements by 
the agency, saying they violate the First Amendment. 

Public television stations have the option of following a plan put forward by 
the Association of Public Television Stations. It requires public education 
spots, which will increase in frequency as the transition date approaches. 

The plan also calls for cable and satellite operators to provide monthly 
notices about the transition in their customer billing statements. It also 
requires makers of televisions to "provide notice to consumers of the transition's 
impact" on their products.


Created: 3/3/2008 8:38:14 PM
Updated: 3/3/2008 8:38:43 PM
Edited by Gary Detman, Nightside EP

© 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be 
published, rewritten, or redistributed.    
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