Senate OKs 'hard date' for '09 digital switch by Brooks Boliek
Source : Hollywood Reporter
December 22, 2005
WASHINGTON -- By the slimmest of margins, the Senate approved legislation shaving nearly $40 billion off the federal deficit, a measure requiring that broadcasters shut off their analog TV signal by Feb. 17, 2009.
The vote was so close that Vice President Dick Cheney's ballot was needed to break a 50-50 tie that would have sent the budget measure to the legislative trash bin.
While the GOP majority needed the measure to boost their claims that they are bringing the deficit under control, the roll call delivered less than the final victory Republicans had hoped for.
In maneuvering in advance of the final vote, Democrats succeeded in forcing minor changes. That meant the House, which approved the measure on a party-line vote in the predawn hours of Sunday, will have to do so again before it can be sent to President Bush for his signature. Passage is all but certain, but the timing remains in question because most House members have gone home for the holidays.
The budget, which includes cuts in welfare programs, student loans and other programs, also includes a $1.5 billion subsidy for digital set-top boxes so those who cannot afford to subscribe to cable or satellite will not be without TV when the analog signal ends.
While some of the frequencies Congress wants vacated by broadcasters will be used to aid public-safety communications, Congress estimates that an auction of the available channels will bring in $10 billion. Outside estimates approach $30 billion.
Language in the House version of the legislation that allowed cable operators to "down convert" a broadcaster's high-definition digital signal to lesser quality was dropped, the sources said.
Some Democrats criticized the legislation, saying it will fail to protect consumers whose TVs will go blank.
"The core of any digital TV bill we approve should ensure that the government does not engage in the unconstitutional practice of taking private property without just compensation," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "The Republican DTV plan will render millions of perfectly good televisions inoperable without providing a practical way of turning them back on. Essentially, this is a government-forced condemnation of private property, and I don't believe my colleagues have thought through the ramifications of such an act."
Broadcasters accepted the "hard date," vowing to work with Congress to prevent cable companies from blocking access to their programming. Digital TV allows broadcasts in movie-quality high-definition TV or multicasting several programming streams in standard-definition TV. Cable companies have successfully fought broadcasters' efforts to require operators to carry all of a broadcaster's multicast signal.
"With today's Senate vote, lawmakers have struck an appropriate compromise on the DTV transition that balances the interests of consumers, public-safety providers and local broadcasters," National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO David Rehr said. "As we look forward to 2006, NAB will work with Congress to ensure that cable operators not be permitted to block consumer access to the full benefits of digital and high-definition television."
The Feb. 17 cutoff date and the $1.5 billion subsidy were a compromise between the House -- which wanted a a subsidy of less than $1 billion for converter boxes -- and the Senate, which wanted to set aside $3 billion. The Senate also set an April 7, 2009 deadline for the change-over, while the House wanted a Jan. 1 date.
The transition to DTV has been fraught with difficulty as the cable, broadcast and consumer electronics industries have struggled to change the way Americans get broadcast TV.
Currently, broadcasters are required to stop analog transmissions at the end of 2006, or when 85% of the American TV-viewing audience receives a digital signal, whichever comes later. The 85% number has long been considered an unreachable goal. NAB contends that there are 73 million television sets in use that rely on free, over-the-air broadcasting as their only source for TV reception. A recent study by the GAO found that 20.5 million TV households rely exclusively on over-the-air TV reception.
