WASHINGTON--The wireless and TV broadcasting industries faced off for the first time at a congressional subcommittee meeting on the Hill on Tuesday, setting in motion what could be a long drawn out battle over whether wireless spectrum should be reallocated and where the government will get this new spectrum.
Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA, the wireless industry group, and Gordon Smith of the National Association of Broadcasters, were among the witnesses gathered before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet to discuss what the CTIA and the Federal Communications Commission have called a looming spectrum crisis.
CTIA and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski have said that finding new spectrum as well as new ways to use existing spectrum more efficiently are top priorities that need to be addressed to keep up with growing demand for new wireless broadband services.
"Spectrum is our industry's backbone and it is what allows us to continue to innovate and create new apps, products, and services," Largent said in a statement. "Without this additional spectrum, our industry will cease to provide U.S. consumers with the most innovative and most competitive wireless offerings in the world."
The hearing comes just weeks after the CTIA ruffled broadcasters' feathers when it filed comments with the FCC suggesting that some of the additional spectrum it seeks for wireless broadband could come from unused TV broadcast spectrum. Broadcasters oppose giving up their spectrum. And some representatives for broadcasters say they don't believe that there is a spectrum crisis.
"There is no shortage of wireless spectrum in this country," said John Hane, counsel in the communications practice group of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, which represents the TV broadcast industry. "There is a lot of spectrum already available that could be used more efficiently. That is why we need these bills to take an inventory of what is currently being used."
Indeed, NAB and CTIA both said they support the passage of the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, which would require the FCC and the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to inventory the wireless spectrum available in the U.S. It would also require those organization issue a public report on the government and private uses of the spectrum.
Smith of NAB also said during his testimony that it's important for Congress to look at all spectrum holders to ensure they are using their spectrum efficiently rather than singling out the broadcast industry.
"NAB believes that any inventory of spectrum should be comprehensive," he said in his prepared testimony. "Let's look at all bands and all services, including federal government bands. And let's view how each service is using its existing spectrum."
The NAB also said it supports another bill in the House, called the Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act, which would streamline the process for federal agencies to turn over unused spectrum so it can be auctioned to bidders in the private sector.
It's clear that the CTIA and FCC are taking on a big fight with calls for spectrum reallocation. And Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs for AT&T, said in an interview Tuesday that he admires the FCC for taking on such a battle.
"We certainly think that there is looming spectrum crisis," he said. "And I give the FCC chairman a great deal of credit for being courageous enough to lay out the problem and to seek what is best for consumers."
But he added that he also believes that the government needs to look at all sources of spectrum in solving this problem.
"That's why we agree there should be a spectrum inventory done," he said.
But skeptics, such as Hane, believe that a full inventory will actually show that no spectrum crisis exists. He argues that Congress may realize once it evaluates the data that there is no real crisis and that the current allocation of spectrum is sufficient to handle future growth.
Specifically, he says that wireless operators could be doing more with Wi-Fi and femto cell technology, which boosts radio signals indoors and then uses a wired broadband connection to send calls and data across a carriers network. He thinks this could help solve some of the efficiency problems that exist today instead of forcing TV broadcasters or government agencies to give up their spectrum.
But the CTIA argues that Wi-Fi and Femto cells are not enough to solve the spectrum shortage. Largent said additional spectrum is necessary to keep the U.S. competitive in the wireless market. And carriers such as AT&T, which is currently facing capacity issues due to heavy use of data services on devices like the iPhone, agree that freeing up more spectrum could help alleviate the problems the company currently faces.
Using a report from the International Telecommunications Union, CTIA calculates that by 2015 the U.S. and other developed nations will need about 1300 MHz spectrum to keep up with growing wireless broadband demand. Largent said in his testimony that the U.S. is lagging other nations in making additional spectrum available. Today, the U.S. has a little less than 500 MHz of spectrum that is commercially available. The trade group is asking the FCC to identify 800 MHz of additional spectrum that can be reallocated for wireless broadband use.
Largent pointed out that countries much smaller than the U.S. have much more spectrum available to them. For example, Germany, which has about 107 million wireless subscribers, will soon have about 645 MHz of spectrum available commercially. And the United Kingdom, which has only about 77 million subscribers will soon have 707 MHz of spectrum available for commercial purposes.
Largent said it is important for Congress to begin the spectrum reallocation process now because it takes years to identify and auction off new spectrum. The past two major FCC spectrum auctions each took more than 10 years to complete from start to finish.
NAB's Smith cautioned congressional leaders to not act hastily in reallocating spectrum. Not only could it hurt free over the air TV, but he said it could stifle innovation in improving digital TV. The U.S. just spent several years and billions of dollars converting to digital TV service, which uses spectrum more efficiently and often provides better service to consumers.
"Our national priorities should recognize the value that free over-the-air broadcasting brings to every American," Smith said in his testimony. "Broadcasting and broadband are not 'either/or' propositions as some have suggested; that's a false choice."
The bills before Congress are just the first step in what is likely to be a long battle for the wireless industry, government agencies and TV broadcasters.
"This is the first round in a 128-round match up," Hane said. "This is just getting started. So it's premature for the CTIA to begin talking about reallocating spectrum when we don't even have a full inventory of the spectrum that's currently being used."
Ever wander into one of those Verizon or AT&T stores, attempt to have a conversation with one of the smartly dressed salespeople, and whisper to yourself, "What kind of emotionally awkward humans end up working in a place like this?"
Well, I have good news for you.
Ricky Gervais, who made David Brent perhaps the most painfully sympathetic character in modern television in the original BBC version of "The Office," has been asking himself the very same question. "Phone Shop" a new British sitcom, enjoys Gervais as its script editor (he reportedly took one look at the idea and volunteered his involvement). The pilot airs Friday evening on Channel 4.
"Phone Shop" will explore the life of salespeople in a soul-sucking mall cell phone shop.
(Credit: Channel 4)Unlike "The Office," which gained existential pleasure from the old-world business of paper manufacture, "Phone Shop" is set in a mall cell phone store.
The pilot episode follows the troubles experienced by trainee salesman Christopher, who has to sell a cell phone by 6 p.m. as part of his one-day trial.
Clearly this series will reside in the emotional halfway house that has just two difficult residents--comedy and tragedy. And one wonders just what impression will be left by the arduous task of pushing yet more portable technology on a populace that bristles with sensory overload.
I am deeply concerned that the cell phone business will not come out so beautifully in "Phone Shop."
You see, The Independent quoted Angela Jain, head of the E4 Channel, which has bought the series. And beneath her words I sense a little cackling: "Everyone's got a mobile phone and has had some encounter in a phone shop. It's also about those difficult dead-end jobs that everyone has at least once in their lives."
So the Droid and the iPhone are being pushed by people in dead-end jobs? What has become of our brave new, smartphoned world?
Motorola is looking to sell its business for TV set-top boxes and network equipment for about $4.5 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday.
The newspaper cites people familiar with the matter who say Motorola is in the early stages of finding a buyer for the business unit. Potential buyers include private-equity firms and competing equipment makers.
Motorola representatives declined to comment, citing a company policy not to comment on speculation or rumors.
The company has three major units: mobile devices, enterprise mobility, and home and networks mobility. And all three business units have been struggling over the past year. It had planned to spin off its mobile-device unit, which makes the company's cell phones, but that plan was put on hold when it became clear that the company wouldn't be able to find a buyer. In the meantime, it brought in co-CEO Sanjay Jha, who has been trying to revive the ailing mobile-device business.
Motorola, once the No. 2 handset maker around the world, got into trouble after the company couldn't come up with a hit phone to replace the popular Razr. And over the past two and half years, it's been fighting an uphill battle in the high-end smartphone market against newer players such as Apple and Research In Motion.
About a year ago, Jha reset the company's focus, and Motorola committed itself to building phones using the new Google Android operating system. The first of these phones, the Motorola Cliq, which is being sold on T-Mobile USA's network, and the Motorola Droid, which is being sold exclusively in the United States by Verizon Wireless, went on sale this fall.
So far, reviews have been good. And the Droid, in particular, has gotten a lot of attention. Motorola expects to launch another 20 Android devices next year.
While prospects for the mobile market are improving, the company is still losing money in this division. For the third quarter of 2009, sales for Motorola's mobile-handset business dropped 46 percent to $1.69 billion, and it lost about $183 million, compared with a year-ago loss of $840 million.
Motorola's enterprise mobility unit, and its set-top box and networking-gear division, have been keeping the company afloat for the past couple of years. But now there are signs that these businesses are also hitting hard times.
During the third quarter, revenue in the enterprise mobility business was down 13 percent to $1.77 billion. Still, this division generated a net income of $306 million, down from $403 million a year ago.
Motorola also saw declines in its home and network mobility business. This business unit includes TV set-top boxes and wireless-networking equipment. This business unit posted the most sales for the company during the quarter, bringing in $2.01 billion. But this figure was down about 15 percent from the same quarter a year ago. In addition, the company's profit was about $199 million, down from $263 million during the third quarter last year.
Motorola blamed the slip in profits on a decline in sales of home entertainment devices to cable and phone companies. That said, the division still remains Motorola's most profitable.
Even though sales and profits may be down this year for the TV set-top box and networking business, the division is still attractive to potential buyers. The main reason is that Motorola has very strong market share in the set-top box market, where it competes head-to-head with Cisco Systems' Scientific Atlanta brand.
The Wall Street Journal article said private-equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Silver Lake Partners are interested in the company. And it's likely that Motorola competitors such as Samsung Electronics, Huawei Technologies, Nokia Siemens, Pace, and Ericsson may be interested in this business to bulk up their presence in the U.S. market.
But analysts warn that selling this division now could hurt Motorola's turnaround effort. RBC analyst Mark Sue told Reuters that Motorola needs the set-top box and networking business to help fund operations for the mobile-device business.
"(The mobile-device business) hasn't really recovered fully yet, so it would be a little too early to cut off the lifeline," he said to Reuters.
The Wall Street Journal said investment banks JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are advising Motorola on the possible sale.
Qualcomm will offer its FLO TV on a handheld television, putting this existing service on a dedicated device for the first time.
Qualcomm's FLO TV Personal Television
(Credit: Qualcomm)FLO TV, the Qualcomm-owned provider of a live mobile TV service, unveiled the FLO TV Personal Television on Tuesday, with availability slated for holiday season at retailers.
FLO, or "forward link only" technology, is designed for multicasting a large volume of rich multimedia content cost effectively to wireless subscribers. AT&T and Verizon already offer FLO TV on mobile phones in the U.S.
Qualcomm says the FLO TV Personal Television is "created with the single focus of delivering high-quality TV." The device receives live and time-shifted content with no buffering, downloading or waiting to view content, according to Qualcomm.
Content includes CNBC, Comedy Central, ESPN, ESPNews, Fox, Fox News, Fox Sports, MSNBC, MTV, NBC2Go, NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, Nickelodeon, CBS, CBS College Sports, and CBS News. (Editors' note: CBS College Sports and CBS News are offerings of CBS, which is also the parent company of CNET News.)
Though handheld TV is still somewhat of an unknown quantity, viewership--like that of more traditional big-screen TV-- tends to spike during major national events, according to Qualcomm. Its service saw a surge in viewers, for example, during March Madness--the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
Qualcomm cited market research from TeleAnalytics that projects a broadcast mobile TV market of $2.8 billion and 50 million users in North American by 2013.
FLO TV Personal Television subscription service starts at $8.99 per month and the device will sell for $249.99. Specifications include a 3.5-inch diagonal screen and weight of of just over 5 ounces. Its battery supports more than 5 hours of active FLO TV viewing or 300 hours standby.
The television uses a capacitive touch-screen allowing channel surfing with a finger swipe. It also includes a built-in stand and stereo speakers.
Verizon Communications is getting ready to launch a new feature that allows its Fios TV customers to interact with their sets using their Verizon Wireless cell phones, according to a story published by Dow Jones News service.
The company has been talking about the capability for months, and it recently demonstrated an application that will turn Verizon phones into a remote controls for the Fios TV service. The application is expected to be commercially available in the next three months.
The handset remote control application will only work with Wi-Fi enabled handsets and will use a Wi-Fi network instead of the Verizon cellular network to access the Fios service. Wi-Fi is only available on a select handsets from Verizon Wireless.
President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he plans to nominate Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Commerce Department official, to fill the open Republican slot on the Federal Communications Commission.
Meredith Attwell Baker has been nominated by President Obama to fill one of two Republican seats on the five-member FCC.
Most recently Baker led the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA. This is the agency within the Commerce Department that was responsible for distributing the $40 coupons to consumers to convert their older analog TVs to receive digital TV signals. Baker came under fire earlier this year when the Commerce Department ran out of money for the coupons and millions of people were put on a waiting list.
Worries over the coupon program and a general feeling that too many people were unprepared for the switch to digital TV prompted Congress to push back the deadline to switch all the nation's high powered TV broadcasters from analog to digital from February to June.
With Baker's nomination to the FCC, President Obama has named his final nominee for the five member commission. Obama has already nominated Julius Genachowski to be FCC chairman. And he has also nominated Mignon Clyburn to fill a Democratic slot at the FCC. Clyburn is a member of South Carolina's public service commission. Commissioner Robert McDowell, who is a Republican, has been nominated for a second term on the commission.
For much of this year, the FCC has been operating with just three commissioners. Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, is serving as acting chairman. After Genachowski is sworn in as chairman, Copps will step down from that position, but remain on the commission for at least another year. His term ends June 30, 2010. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, plans to leave the commission after the new chairman takes his position. Adelstein has been nominated to head the Internet grant program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Genachowski and McDowell have already been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee and are awaiting full Senate confirmation. It's expected that Baker and Clyburn will go through the Senate approval process together.
Americans have survived the transition to digital television without incident.
The sky did not fall and there was no major shortage of digital converter boxes Friday when full-power broadcasters across the nation turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital. Calls to broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commission have been heavy the past few days, but officials say that the volume is within what the agency had expected.
"The digital TV transition is looking more like Y2K than the Bay of Pigs," Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said during a press conference on Saturday.
While the agency is quick to say that there is still work to be done in helping stragglers get over the air signals, it's clear commissioners were relieved and pleased with how smoothly the transition of some 971 stations to all digital broadcast went throughout the country on Friday.
Officials said Saturday that more than 317,000 consumer calls were made to the FCC on Friday, the highest number of calls the agency has ever had in one day. But the agency was prepared with call centers staffed 24 hours a day with a total of 4,000 live operators to answer questions. Even though call wait times were higher during peak periods, on average consumers had to wait less than five minutes for their call to be answered.
The largest volume of calls came from broadcast markets serving major cities, most notably Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
The FCC's Web site also got a lot of activity on Friday with more than 3.1 million page views on the www.dtv,gov site. This is more page views than the site had in all of May.
About 30 percent of the calls to the FCC call centers concerned the operation of digital boxes, the agency said. And most of those calls were resolved were instructed to "re-scan" converter boxes in order to receive the digital channels that had moved to new frequencies. More than 20 percent of the calls handled by live agents dealt with reception issues.
FCC officials said that it was hard to say exactly how many people were not prepared when the switch happened and how many are still without over-the-air broadcast TV. But according to the latest Nielsen survey conducted before the June 12 deadline, less than 3 million households across the nation were unprepared. This figure was at least half of what it had been in February.
Retailers across the country were well-stocked with digital converter boxes for last-minute shoppers, which alleviated any concerns government officials had about equipment shortages. But the agency noted that in some locations antennas were in short supply. The FCC is suggesting that consumers look online if they are unable to get an antenna from a local retailer this weekend.
Even though there was no major catastrophe or mass out-cry from the public over the switch to digital TV, acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps said the agency's work is still not complete. He said that the FCC is continuing its grassroots efforts to ensure consumers, who still aren't getting over the air TV are not left behind. He used a baseball analogy to describe where he feels the agency is right now in the transition.
"We are safe on third right now," he said. "But I'm not going to close the books on the transition or declare a home run until we solve all the consumer problems."
Still, he also pointed out that there are likely far fewer unprepared viewers now than there would have been had broadcasters switched to digital on the original February 17 deadline. Fearing that consumers were not ready for the transition early this year, Congress voted to delay the mandated transition to June 12.
Since then FCC has thrown its efforts into overdrive, working with volunteers from the public and private sector to educate consumers and provide out reach programs to install digital converter boxes for consumers.
Copps expressed his pride for the efforts of his staff and the massive coordination among the different groups working to make the DTV transition smooth.
"We turned this little regulatory agency on the Potomac into a real grass roots organization," he said.
Copps and the other FCC commissioners said that "search and rescue" efforts will continue to find and help individuals who have been left behind in this transition. FCC volunteers along with volunteers from other groups, such as AmeriCorps, are on the ground manning walk-in centers where people still needing help can go to get help. These folks are also going to door-to-door in at-risk communities to make sure that people are able to get over-the-air TV.
Broadcasters will also continue to turn up the power on their transmitters, which could help some consumers receive TV signals that they might not have been able to get previously.
NEW YORK--Louise Coleman of Brooklyn, N.Y., did everything she was supposed to do before full-power TV broadcasters in the U.S. turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital, but she still found herself in a Best Buy store on the DTV deadline day, Friday, buying the last amplified digital antenna on the store shelf.
An indoor amplified HDTV antenna from RCA, which is owned by Audiovox
(Credit: Audiovox)Coleman said she had gotten her $40 coupon from the government and bought a digital converter box for her older analog TV before the first deadline for the switch to digital TV on February 17. And she even bought a new flat screen digital-ready TV for her living room to replace an old analog TV that was on its last legs. So she thought she was prepared.
But when Coleman hooked up her digital converter box to her TV using her existing antenna on the eve of the digital transition, she discovered that she could get every regular broadcast TV station except channel 2. Meanwhile, using a new TV antenna with a built-in signal amplifier attached to her digital ready flat-screen TV, she was able to get all the regular channels, plus two extra channels. So off she went to Best Buy, to pick up the very last digital TV antenna with a signal amplifier the store had in stock at a cost of $50.
"I was prepared back in February for the switch," she said. "But then when I hooked up the box last night, I realized that I wasn't getting all the channels and that I probably needed a different antenna, so here I am again."
Coleman was not alone. While much of the hoopla around the digital TV transition for the past several months has focused on whether people with older analog TVs had a digital converter box to receive digital signals, a big issue for New Yorkers on Friday when broadcasters flipped the switch to digital was finding an antenna to improve their reception.
TV antennas were in short supply in New York City Friday when full power broadcast TV stations switched to digital-only TV broadcasts.
(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )By 1 p.m. EDT the Radio Shack on 23rd Street near Park Avenue had plenty of converter boxes in the store, but it was all out of antennas. The Best Buy just down the block on 23rd Street and 6th Avenue only had a few antennas left by mid-afternoon. And by 5 p.m. a Best Buy customer service representative at the store on Broadway and 62nd Street said that antennas were sold out in Manhattan. The only stores that still had them in stock were in Queens. As for converter boxes, the representative said the store still had 242 left.
Justin Barber, a spokesman for Best Buy, said that as of Friday evening, Best Buy stores across the country were meeting demand for converter boxes. He couldn't say whether other areas around the country were experiencing antenna shortages. But he said that the company had anticipated a spike in demand.
"We have been working with our antenna vendors to get additional inventory," he said. "That was definitely something we were planning for in anticipation of the DTV switch."
It's difficult to say how widespread the potential antenna shortage has been. Mark Wigfield, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission, said he hadn't heard that antennas were in short supply. But he said he wasn't surprised that antennas are in high demand.
"You really do need an antenna to receive digital signals," he said.
Best Buy had plenty of digital TV converter boxes on hand for last minute shoppers.
(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )But Wigfield added that people may not need to rush out and buy a new antenna. They may be able to use the existing antenna they had used to get analog TV signals. But he said that whether the antenna is new or old, consumers should make sure it supports both UHF and VHF radio frequencies. VHF antennas have traditionally been the rabbit-ear antennas that receive channels 2-13. And UHF antennas have been in the shape of a circle or bow-tie. These antennas are used to tune channels 14-51. Now that broadcasters are only transmitting in digital, it's important to have an antenna that supports both VHF and UHF, since many digital signals are now being broadcast in UHF frequencies.
In addition to VHF/UHF antennas there are also amplified antennas that can be used to improve reception. In the case of Louise Coleman, the amplified antenna, helped her get all the standard TV channels offered in her area, as well as two more channels she couldn't get with analog TV.
But retailers caution consumers that no antenna is a one-size fits all solution, something Richard Savelli, of Manhattan learned the hard way. Savelli had bought a basic rabbit ear-style antenna from Radio Shack when he picked up his converter box earlier this year, but even with the new antenna he isn't able to tune in some digital TV channels. He was in Best Buy on Friday looking to buy a new antenna. But the pickings were rather slim.
"It is frustrating," he said. "Nobody told me I needed a special antenna. But cable is too expensive and I don't want to give them my money."
Figuring out exactly which antenna to use can be a big challenge. The FCC has some information on its Web site www.dtv.gov that provides some help. But most of the information on the Internet is about outside antennas. Still, Wigfield recommends that consumers check out the FCC Website and use a tool that allows people to put in their address and ZIP code to see where their local station transmitters are located and what kind of signal they can expect to get. There is also information available about the different types of antennas.
CNET Reviews associate editor Matthew Moskovciak says that the position of the antenna is often more important than the type of antenna used. He also says that newer converter boxes work much better than ones made just a few years. Moskovciak, who reviews antennas and digital converter boxes for CNET, has also been an over-the-air TV viewer for the past three years. And he says he has spent hours testing and figuring out which solution works best for getting digital TV signals in his Astoria, Queens, apartment.
What he has discovered is that an expensive amplified antenna did not perform as well in his apartment as a much cheaper HDTV UHF/VHF antenna. He uses an HDTV "silver sensor" antenna that costs around $35, versus $50 or more for an antenna with a signal amplifier. And he says that he not only gets more TV channels than he did with analog, but that the TV channels he is getting are much better quality in high definition and with surround sound.
A silver sensor HDTV antenna from Philips that is similar to the one CNET editor Matthew Moskovciak uses.
(Credit: CNET)But he adds that everyone's experience is different, and that some people living in a different part of the city or even someone in his own neighborhood or building whose apartment is facing a different direction could have an easier or a harder time getting a signal with the same equipment.
So what are consumers to do? Here are a few tips that can be used to help get you started setting up your antenna for digital reception.
• Make sure you are using an antenna that supports UHF and VHF.
• Move your antenna closer to a window. Often it's much easier to get reception from the window.
• Point the antenna in the direction where you know local TV stations are broadcasting. You may have to adjust the antenna for different channels.
• Rescan your digital converter box or tuner to find the channels in case the broadcaster has moved them.
• If you're still unable to get a signal, try a new antenna. Moskovciak recommends not buying the most expensive antenna first. Instead, he says to work your way up, trying different antennas to see which one works best. Often a less expensive antenna may work better than a more expensive one. Best Buy has a 30-day return policy, so try as many antennas as you want, and return the ones that you don't need.
"It's definitely not easy to set this up perfectly," Moskovciak said. "I've spent a lot of time getting mine set up. I have my antenna taped to the wall and pointing toward the transmitters. But I really don't watch TV all that much, so I can't justify spending another $50 a month on cable."
In less than 24 hours all full-power broadcast TV stations in the U.S. will flip a switch to stop broadcasting their analog TV signals and will only broadcast TV signals in digital. And for millions who are unprepared, it could mean lights out on their favorite TV shows.
I know what you're thinking. "We've heard this before." In fact, you've probably been hearing about the transition to digital television for the last decade. You likely started seeing public service commercials last year encouraging you to buy a digital converter box to turn your old analog TV into one that could receive digital signals.
In early February another supposed deadline loomed. And then it didn't happen. Congress, fearing that too many people weren't prepared, postponed the switch, and more than 6 million procrastinators were saved.
But now the new deadline of June 12 is upon us once again. And this time it's for real. President Obama himself issued a statement last week:
"We have worked hand in hand with state and local officials, broadcasters and community groups to educate and assist millions of Americans with the transition...I want to be clear: there will not be another delay."
So here we are, less than a day away from the final transition. And despite months of public service announcements and more than $2 billion spent by the U.S. government to help people prepare, millions will still face a blank screen when they hit that little power button on their TV remotes starting Friday at 12:01 a.m.
The good news is that delaying the switch from February to June has given the Federal Communications Commission some time to ramp up efforts to get the public prepared. The agency has enlisted the help of dozens of groups including volunteers from AmeriCorps, civil rights groups, and even firefighters to help people purchase and install their converter boxes and antennas.
... Read More
The FCC on Tuesday held a public hearing where representatives from different FCC bureaus and leaders from various groups involved in educating and preparing the public for the switch to digital TV broadcast updated commissioners on their progress. The FCC and Commerce Department have partnered with community organizations, churches, public safety departments, civil rights groups, consumer groups and broadcasters around the country to get people ready for the transition. These education and outreach programs were thrown into high gear after Congress voted to postpone the transition from February 17 to June 12.
FCC staff members as well as other experts agreed that the nation is much better prepared now for the DTV transition than it was in February. But they testified there will be some individuals and groups of people who will still experience problems when all full-powered TV stations in the country flip the switch to digital transmission.
One major issue cited by Eloise Gore, associate bureau chief of the FCC's media bureau, is that some 35 TV stations around the country are expected to go dark after the switch. Eighteen of these stations are having financial problems, she said. The other 17 stations are experiencing technical issues that are preventing them from switching to digital, Gore said during her testimony. These TV stations may be able to get their signals back online by the end of the year, she said.
Some of the TV stations that are expected to stop transmitting signals are affiliates of a major TV network, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox. But Gore added that viewers who lose these channels can scan for that network on a subchannel of another TV station and may be able to access that network.
Another potential problem cited by Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology for the FCC, is that even people who have gotten their new digital converter boxes or who have digital-ready TVs are having difficulty with their antennas. He said consumers need to make sure that they have antennas that can receive UHF and VHF signals. He also said some viewers may have to adjust their antennas to get the digital TV signals. And he noted that viewers who have already been using converter boxes and antennas to get over the-air-digital TV should still rescan their boxes to find the new digital signals, since some signals may have shifted after the cut-over to all-digital transmission.
Knapp also noted that his office has been updating information on its Web site about antennas and these other issues to help provide more information to consumers. The office has also been working with retailers so that they can provide better advice to consumers about which antenna will work best for them.
Already switched
Even though disruptions are expected after the June 12 deadline, the reality is that about half of the 1,800 full-power TV stations required to transition to digital transmission have already done so. Many of these stations have been transmitting in digital since the original February 17 deadline.
Education and outreach programs appear to be working. The most recent polling data from Nielsen suggests that only about 3 million households that rely on over-the-air TV are unprepared for the transition. This figure is down from about 6 million households that were unprepared leading up to the February 17 deadline. The people who are still left out appear to be procrastinators and some in at-risk groups, such as elderly, low-income, or rural viewers, said Cathy Seidel, chief of the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. And the agency is continuing to target those groups.
The Commerce Department has been offering $40 coupons to help offset the cost of digital converter boxes to allow older TVs to receive digital signals. And government officials say there is enough money and vouchers available to continue the program until its deadline of July 31. But officials did warn that people applying for coupons now may not get them in time for the June 12 deadline.
Despite that good news, some of the commissioners still have concerns. Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell, who President Obama renominated for his current post, said he was concerned about what would happen after the transition was completed. Specifically, he wanted to know how the FCC would pay for the 4,000 telephone operators it planned to have in place to answer calls from consumers having problems. The FCC needs about $10 million to pay for these operators.
Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, associate administrator at the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said these funds could be allocated from the Commerce Department, which received $650 million from the economic stimulus package to help fund the DTV coupon program. The agency has the authority to distribute about $90 million of that money to the FCC for digital TV education efforts. The FCC has already received about $65 million of the funding, but the Commerce Department has been holding about $25 million in case more is needed for the coupon program.
McGuire-Rivera said she didn't see any major problems in getting the $10 million transferred from the Commerce Department to the FCC. But the transfer must still be approved by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, which she anticipates will happen.
Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein expressed his concern that roughly 31 percent of TV households in various markets will not have access to "analog nightlight" services. The "nightlight" program is a voluntary program in which TV stations agree to keep an analog signal turned on in addition to their digital signals to provide information about the DTV transition and to notify unprepared TV viewers of emergencies, such as hurricanes.
Only about 100 stations plan to maintain "analog nightlight" notifications after the switch. More than half of those nightlights will remain on air for 30 days. And the rest will be on for at least two weeks. In total, these stations will reach 69 percent of TV households.
Representatives from the FCC and the National Association of Broadcasters said they are still trying to recruit more TV stations to provide nightlight broadcasts, and they expect to add more to the list.
