Kneuer Says NTIA Ready to Fulfill DTV Transition Responsibilities
NTIA rules on its DTV converter box coupon program will appear within weeks, after OMB clearance, NTIA Dir. John Kneuer said Tues. in a meeting with reporters. The transition dominated Kneuer’s first media roundtable as director.
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Kneuer would not answer questions on the rules, including whether pay-TV homes would be ineligible for the coupons, as NTIA proposed but many, including some in Congress, oppose. NTIA will add permanent and temporary staff to help oversee the coupon program, plus a $1 billion public safety grant program assigned it by the law that fixed Feb. 2009 for the transition’s end, Kneuer said.
NTIA never has run a program as big as the one that will provide $40 coupons to millions to offset digital-to-analog converter box costs, he said: “It’s not totally unrelated to the kinds of things we have done around here. It is certainly a management challenge to absorb programmatic responsibilities of that scale and scope.”
NTIA will hire a contractor to distribute checks and process applications, work Kneuer said easily could be handled by companies with experience notifying and forwarding checks to plaintiffs in large class-action lawsuits. A request for proposals seeking a vendor is due Jan. 26. According to the GAO, Americans use 73 million broadcast-only analog TV sets, a tally NAB often cites. CEA says over-the- air sets number far fewer and constantly are being retired. NTIA hasn’t ordered an independent study of how many TV sets may be eligible.
Kneuer would “hesitate” to predict what percentage of the average box’s cost will be offset by the $40 coupon, he said. “It was explicit in the statute that there be some co- payment by the consumer,” he said: “It may well turn out that [boxes] could cost less than $40. They could cost more.” The law provides $5 million for NTIA to educate the public about the program, another duty going to a contractor. Asked if that’s enough money, Kneuer replied: “It is what it is.”
On other issues, NTIA will coordinate with DHS on public safety grants to help pay for interoperable communications. But NTIA takes seriously its responsibility to oversee the program, he said. “This is a program where we have the ultimate decision-making authority on the grants,” he said: “We have the decision making authority on the policy surrounding that.”
Bush Administration efforts to rationalize govt. spectrum use already are bearing fruit, Kneuer said. New guidelines require agencies seeking to use more spectrum to prove there’s no less “spectrum intensive” alternative, he said. “That is an enormous change in the way that we do things around here,” he said: “If the initiative accomplishes nothing else but that, that would be a big change.” NTIA is completing the govt.’s first strategic plan, providing a public record of how federal agencies use spectrum.
Kneuer defended the U.S. record on broadband deployment, downplaying rankings by the Organization for Economic Co- operation & Development (OECD) and others showing the U.S. behind many developed nations. “Look at the rankings and what they are measuring and be realistic about it,” he said: “People want to hold up an OECD ranking that has Iceland as the number one broadband marketplace in the world. I don’t think that is a realistic representation… Iceland has 74,000 broadband connections. We have 50 million.”