U.S. Role in DTV Products ‘Quite Significant,’ Shapiro Tells Senate
“Contrary to what you may have heard otherwise,” the role of U.S. companies in the development and production of DTV products “is quite significant,” CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro told the Senate Commerce Committee in a letter Fri.
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At a DTV hearing July 12, Shapiro had faced repeated grilling by Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) and ranking Democrat Inouye (D-Hawaii) on whether CEA’s membership included only foreign companies that would benefit from the DTV transition (CED July 13 p2). He said NAB depictions of CE makers as a foreign industry had been “very deceptive,” and he would follow up in a letter to clarify. In the letter, addressed to Stevens and Inouye, Shapiro said the ATSC system was invented in the U.S. by a “Grand Alliance” of firms. Moreover, Shapiro said, “today’s DTV products use highly sophisticated chips made by leading U.S. technology firms, including Texas Instruments, Liberate Technologies, Rockwell, Intel, Broadcom, Zoran and Zarlink.” He said about $10 billion worth of U.S.-produced components are used annually in TV sets assembled here and abroad.
As for TV set production, many models “are still manufactured in the United States,” Shapiro said: “In addition to many high-end models, some 20% of all sets sold in the U.S. are produced here, totaling nearly 5 million sets per year.” Most are CRT-based direct-view or rear-projection sets, he said. Plants are located mainly in Ark., Cal., Ind., Ohio, Pa., Tenn. and Wash., he said. A “free-market economy [has] allowed for the United States to become a winner in this marketplace. America now stands as the global leader in innovation, ingenuity, and creativity. Indeed, our industry has driven the U.S. economy for the last 20 years, while empowering every American with extraordinary new means of communication and entertainment.”
CEA estimates 1.8 million Americans owe their jobs to the U.S. CE industry, “which spans not just manufacturing, but content development, retail sales, broadcasting, mobile communications, and cable and satellite,” Shapiro said. “The return of the analog spectrum is critical to maintaining our healthy, vibrant technology industry. We represent not only television set manufacturers, but also innovative IP companies such as Intel, Motorola, Dell, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, and others who are eager to use the returned broadcast spectrum to introduce new products and services. New technologies like wireless broadband will bring high-speed connectivity to rural and other underserved areas, and help us maintain our technological leadership in an increasingly competitive world.”
CEA is eager to work with Congress “to complete the DTV transition in a manner that brings certainty to all stakeholders, causes minimal market disruption, and imposes the fewest possible burdens on American TV consumers,” Shapiro told the lawmakers.