FCC, Industry Officials Meet on DTV Transition

Officials from the Media Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology, NTIA and many industry groups last met Thursday, said Community Broadcasters Association Executive Director Amy Brown and Paul Feldman, a lawyer for the group of low-power stations. Also in attendance were staffers from the offices of Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein, Michael Copps, Robert McDowell and Deborah Tate, said Feldman and other participants. Officials of the Association for Maximum Service TV, Association of Public TV Stations, CEA, NAB and NCTA also attended, participants said. CBS, DirecTV, Disney, EchoStar and NBC were among the companies that sent representatives. Most of the organizations also were represented at a meeting Feb. 1, said Brown. Another meeting date hasn’t been set, said Feldman. An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment.

Participants at the second meeting spent two hours discussing ways to get the word out that people who get low- power broadcasters over-the-air must get a pass-through box or take other steps after Feb. 17, 2009, to keep getting the signals, said participants. Officials also discussed whether consumer electronics companies should make more models of boxes with pass-through features, said Community Broadcasters Association Vice President for Technology Greg Herman, who listened by phone. “My impression was that the manufacturers were most concerned that they have the time to create the more functional boxes,” he said. “They are concerned with what they do with the boxes that are already out there.” An executive of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition also attended, said participants.

The low-power group is seeking $400 million from Congress so the nation’s several thousand low power and Class A stations can make the transition by 2012. That’s when a draft rulemaking notice from Martin proposes to require all low-power and TV translator stations to make the switch, said FCC officials. Martin said the notice will propose to give Class A stations priority to get full-power licenses, which would pave the way for them to demand carriage from cable operators. Under that notice, all low-power stations would be eligible to be carried on public access channels, an FCC official said. Such access would amount to must-carry for those stations, said the official.

The NCTA said government and others can maximize the chances that low-power viewers will keep getting the signals by emphasizing which boxes have pass-through features, not by more FCC rules. “It would be plainly irrelevant to burden cable operators with unconstitutional must-carry obligations that will not even help over-the-air viewers,” said an NCTA spokesman. “It would be especially unfortunate now to inject needless uncertainty and litigation which would only serve to undermine the goal of a smooth digital transition.” Association for Maximum Service TV President David Donovan said the pass-through boxes are important, but “this issue should not be used to delay the overall DTV transition or fundamentally alter the status of LPTV stations in a market.” NAB declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Association of Public TV Stations confirmed that a representative had attended, as did a spokesman for DirecTV. CBS said it, too, was there. “CBS is committed to the success of the transition, so it will attend any meeting which advances” it, said a spokeswoman. Officials of the other organizations that took part in the meeting declined to comment or didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The broadcasters say they can’t make the switch in four years without additional money. They've already been allotted $65 million by Congress. It costs $150,000 for each station to upgrade its gear for digital, but stations need federal help to afford that, Herman said. “To do it without recognition of the economic reality of all these small businesses which are predominately the owners of these low- power and Class A stations is to ignore reality a bit,” he said. “Our industry desperately wants to participate in the digital future, but a mandate won’t get us there. There has to be a comprehensive approach to move us there, and I am very encouraged by what I've seen so far.”

Two weeks ago, low-power broadcasters started airing an ad saying only 20 percent of U.S. TV stations are making the DTV switch Feb. 17, 2009, and telling viewers they must get pass-through boxes to keep getting their signals after then. “With the wrong box, this station and many others will not work. ATSC-only boxes will block you from seeing 80 percent of stations, including this one.” All low-power stations received the ad, which can be seen at KeepUsOn.com, said Brown. She said NTIA agreed to add an asterisk to the back of the $40 vouchers identifying converter boxes that can pass through analog signals. “We are telling manufacturers that are interested in adding an analog signal pass-through to any of their already certified converter boxes that NTIA will expedite the review and recertification process for such a converter box,” an NTIA spokesman said. The agency has asked Congress to make the $65 million for low-power and translator stations available sooner than planned, he said.

Another low-power spot said a “there is a huge scam going on with these boxes,” an assertion that drew criticism from the CEA. A CEA spokesman said the group hasn’t given its viewers accurate information about the transition for years while “repudiating the migration to digital television despite the benefits to consumers, to public safety and to wireless innovation.” The box program is working “exactly how Congress intended the program to work, and Commerce and the FCC have implemented it successfully,” he added. “To suggest that dedicated government employees are perpetrating a ’scam’ is offensive and inappropriate. CBA should focus its considerable energy on educating its viewers on the multiple converter boxes from which they can choose and quickly migrating to digital television.”