Amendments Fail to Increase DTV Converter Box Funding

Ranking member Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Markey (D-Mass.) co-authored an amendment that would have provided “as much money as needed” to help consumers adjust to the transition for an estimated cost of $3.5-$4 billion. It also would have set a later hard DTV transition date (April 7, 2009 vs. Dec. 31, 2008 in the approved measure) and would have provided $5.8 billion for public safety interoperability equipment - in essence spending all money estimated to be raised from auctions of the liberated spectrum. Markey separately offered an amendment that would give each household a voucher for 2 free converter boxes, limited to a $60 device. The amendment failed by a 27-24 vote.

Markey ignited a vigorous response from some Republicans over his proposal to spend all money raised from the auction. Some questioned whether the program’s provisions for sending coupons to every household would open the door to fraud. “Could anyone in America get a free set-top box? George Soros? Bill Gates?” asked Rep. Walden (R-Ore.). “Could they buy them and then sell them?” he asked committee counsel. “I know of no limitation,” the counsel said. Markey also characterized the digital transition as equivalent to govt. “taking” of private property -- an eminent domain issue. This provoked a vigorous rebuke from Rep. Buyer (R-Ill.), who said the argument had no basis in law.

Consumer groups were upset with the failure of Republicans to yield to Democratic pleas for more funding in the bill. “What the Republican bill does is force consumers, who haven’t demanded the digital transition, to bear all the costs,” said Jeannine Kenney of Consumers Union. Given that the transition will raise up to $10 billion, she said, “there is no reason consumers can’t be held harmless.”

“That’s an emotional argument,” said Buyer, who introduced an amendment that would strip all funding for converter boxes from the Barton DTV bill. “We have a budget deficit and a nearly $1 billion program that has no basis in law and no precedent,” Buyer said: “This is not a takings issue.” Markey chided Buyer for his legal analysis of the takings issue, suggesting that “if Harriet Miers withdraws, you're our candidate.” Buyer’s amendment failed on a vote of 27-10. Rep. Gonzalez (D-Tex.) backed Markey’s argument: “It is a taking -- you are being deprived of something.”

Many complained that the House bill shortchanged consumers in contrast with the $3 billion designated in the Senate DTV bill that was reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee last week. The House bill doesn’t provide enough funding, Rep. Boucher (D-Va.) said. “We can easily afford $3.5-$4 billion.” Boucher offered an amendment, which failed 31-16 to force cable to notify consumers when a broadcaster has downconverted an HDTV signal to standard digital.

Besides battling over converter box funding, Democrats also pushed for higher funding for interoperability equipment. Markey’s $5.8 billion funding provision drew praise from many Democrats. “First responders will get much needed funding for interoperability,” said Dingell. Rep. Stupak (D-Mich.) offered an amendment that would set aside $5.8 billion in a separate fund for public safety first responder needs, such as grants for equipment purchases and upgrades. “Many will say we can’t afford this -- I say we can’t afford to wait any longer,” Stupak said. Dingell said: “That’ beginning to be the kind of money we have to spend.” But the Stupak amendment failed 24-24. Instead, an amendment devoting $500 million for a public safety trust fund program offered by Rep. Upton (R-Mich.) passed unanimously. Upton pointed out that his amendment doubles the money provided in the Senate bill and has the backing of many public safety organizations.

The amendment also would allow NTIA to use some of the funding for consumer outreach and require satellite carriers to follow the same rules under the digital transition as cable. These would include offering a primary video stream and program-related material of an eligible requesting station in the digital format transmitted by the station if the satellite carrier carries the primary video stream of any other local TV station in that local market in the same digital format.

CompTIA saluted the “date certain” for the DTV transition, saying the transition has been occurring at “dial-up speed.” It said it hopes the Hill action will “break the ‘analog-jam.'” Public Knowledge said it was pleased the broadcast flag wasn’t included in the bill, saying the flag should be part of an “in-depth examination” of content control issues, instead of merely being part of a larger package. -- Anne Veigle

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The Senate Budget Committee Wed. voted 12-10 along straight party lines to report out the budget reconciliation bill that includes the DTV legislative component approved last week by the Commerce Committee. The bill moves to the Senate floor for debate beginning Mon., where amendments are expected. Sen. Ensign (R-Nev.) -- who voted with the Commerce Committee majority in a 19- 3 vote to approve the DTV package -- told the Budget Committee in a markup he planned to introduce an amendment to reduce the $3 billion allocated for converter box subsidies because it’s “too big a number.” He didn’t say what new allocation he planned in the amendment, but said he wanted to see some money earmarked for converter boxes instead used to lower the deficit. Among his reasons for wanting to reduce the subsidy allocation, Ensign said, was that Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) plans a bill to stop imports of analog TVs once a hard analog cutoff date is established. “If you do that, that’s 20 million sets a year that won’t need to be financed with a set-top box,” he said. Moreover, it’s estimated converter boxes in mass quantities will cost $50 retail by the time analog service goes dark, Ensign said. Given how often a TV set or PC is purchased in the U.S., “that’s not a big price to pay for a vast majority of Americans,” he said. DTV otherwise received little mention at the Budget Committee markup, except for an introductory summary by Chmn. Gregg (R-N.H.), who described the $3 billion for converter box subsidies as one of the few new “spending initiatives” in the reconciliation bill. Gregg said the Commerce Committee “thought it was appropriate” that $3 billion of the spectrum auction proceeds be returned to consumers, “who will have to turn their television sets over, not because they want to, but because the law is forcing them to.”