DTV Bill Gets New Life with Oct. 26 Reconciliation Deadline

The DTV package will be submitted Oct. 26 instead of the original Sept. 16 date, under the Senate Commerce Committee’s recommendations to the Senate Budget Committee. “This decision will allow the Congress and committees to address the immediate concerns related to the recent hurricane and not be encumbered by budget reconciliation requirements in the near term,” Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-Tenn.) and Senate Budget Committee Chmn. Gregg (R-N.H.) said in a statement. The extended deadline won’t affect the “privileged status of any reported reconciliation bill,” the statement said. Budget reconciliation deadlines are set by Congress, not by statute, but a significant delay could make it impossible to reach agreement during the session.

“We're very confident that the new deadline makes tremendous practical sense,” said Janice Obuchowski, exec. dir.-High Tech DTV Coalition. “It allows lawmakers to deal with Hurricane Katrina.” She said the communications breakdown during the hurricane illustrates the importance of getting DTV done as soon as possible: “The public policy imperatives are extremely strong.” She was hopeful the legislation would provide the leeway for auctions to be held sooner than the analog cutoff date, but she said Congress might leave the decision to the FCC.

The wireless industry also is pleased with the new date and confident the delay won’t hurt the DTV transition effort. “We believe there’s a growing chorus for the need to have a DTV transition happen soon,” said Bobby Franklin, CTIA vp-govt. affairs. CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro agreed: “There are many members of Congress working diligently on this.”

The anticipated $10 billion proceeds from auctioning analog spectrum is an important revenue consideration for the reconciliation package. Under budget resolution instructions, the Senate Commerce Committee must raise $4.8 billion and the House Commerce Committee must cut -- or raise -- $14.7 billion, much of which is expected to come from cuts in Medicaid program growth (CD July 8 p1). The House and Senate reconciliation bills will include DTV provisions that will be submitted separately to the Senate Budget Committee and worked out in conference. The House has taken the lead on DTV and is making progress on divisive provisions.

One sticking point that may be getting resolved is the amount of the subsidy to allocate for converter boxes to allow consumers with analog TVs to receive digital signals. “I don’t think it’s the issue it was,” an industry source said. Republicans are starting to compromise with Democrats who've been pushing for a more generous package. The CBO’s most recent working figure supplied to congressional committees is $800 million, lobbyists said. The House Commerce Committee reportedly is working on a proposal that would involve a co-payment program whereby consumers would get $40 vouchers they could use to buy set-top boxes, industry sources said. But they couldn’t buy units costing more than $60, sources told us.

An $800 million subsidy would provide enough money to buy about 16 million boxes, assuming each cost about $50. In conflicting estimates of how many households whose over-the-air TVs would go dark in an analog cutoff, the 16 million is closer to CEA estimates than to GAO estimates as high as 73 million sets, in 21% of U.S. households. Sources also said a compromise may be shaping up over multicast must-carry, with cable agreeing to carry a primary signal and one or 2 news channels.

Correction: A letter to House Speaker Hastert calling for action on DTV bills (CD Sept 13 p1) was signed by Reps. Harman (D-Cal.) and Weldon (R-Pa.) with copies to House Minority Leader Pelosi (D-Cal.), House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.), Commerce Ranking member Dingell (D-Mich.), House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) and Telecom Subcommittee Ranking Member Markey (D-Mass.).