[IP] Uncle Sam Wants Your Airwaves
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From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 22, 2004 7:07:06 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Uncle Sam Wants Your Airwaves
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Uncle Sam Wants Your Airwaves
By Michael Grebb
Story location:
<http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65041,00.html>
02:00 AM Sep. 22, 2004 PT
WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers are increasingly willing to contemplate
bold action to get people to stop watching analog, over-the-airwaves
television and switch to digital TV. How bold? They will consider a
bill Wednesday that pays a $1 billion subsidy to make it happen.
For a sense of how frustrated lawmakers have become, observers point
to a new bill introduced Tuesday by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona).
The legislation -- pointedly named the Spectrum Availability for
Emergency-Response and Law-Enforcement to Improve Vital Emergency
Services Act, or just the Save Lives Act -- sets a new deadline of Jan.
1, 2009, for the federal government to free up the analog TV spectrum
for use by public-safety agencies.
The bill also would clear the way for auctioning spectrum to
commercial interests -- like wireless broadband service providers.
And in a nod to subsidy programs in Europe, the legislation would
provide $1 billion to help 17.4 million U.S. households without cable,
satellite or digital TV tuners pay for equipment that would enable them
to go digital.
"Since the industry isn't going to do it, the government has been
forced to take action," said Gerry Kaufhold, a principal analyst at
research firm In-Stat/MDR.
The bill highlights a congressional conundrum. On one hand, lawmakers
are loath to turn off analog signals all at once, which would render an
estimated 45 million analog TV sets -- those not hooked up to a cable
or satellite service or to a digital-to-analog converter box -- utterly
useless. And they are reluctant to spend money on any program that
smacks of corporate favoritism.
On the other hand, emergency agencies want to use parts of the analog
broadcast spectrum for public-safety uses. And wireless companies are
anxious to pay billions for the right to provide broadband wireless
services over large swaths of spectrum. All the while, Europe and Asia
are pulling significantly ahead of the United States when it comes to
broadband wireless services.
Under current law, broadcasters don't have to relinquish their analog
spectrum until 2007 or until after at least 85 percent of American
households have the equipment to receive over-the-air digital TV
signals, whichever comes last. But few expect Americans to reach the
85-percent threshold for many years.
"It won't be until 2020 at the rate we're going," said Adam Thierer,
director of telecommunications studies at the Cato Institute, a
libertarian think tank. "We're trying to figure out a way to get out of
this industrial policy mess."
Despite the potential backlash, lawmakers are starting to support the
idea of a hard deadline that forces consumers off analog. Low-income
households would get first priority under the subsidy program
contemplated by McCain, but it's unclear how broadly the program would
apply to everyone else.
Some support the subsidy concept. "Every successful rollout of digital
(over-the-air TV) has come with a free box," said Kaufhold. "The model
for digital TV in the world has been to give people a free box. The
U.S. is starting to fall behind."
According to the bill's text, the subsidy would amount to a small
portion of the $30 billion to $70 billion the federal government
expects to collect when it auctions off large portions of the analog TV
spectrum to wireless companies. (Other estimates, however, have been
much smaller.)
McCain plans to hold a vote on the bill Wednesday at a meeting of the
Senate Commerce Committee, which he chairs.
The broadcast industry has already started lobbying against the
measure, which it fears will strip away its rights to the analog TV
spectrum before the country is ready.
"What do you do about the people who haven't purchased a new TV set?"
asked Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of
Broadcasters. "Do you just turn them off? NAB opposes the bill on
grounds that tens of millions of Americans could potentially lose
access to local TV stations if the McCain bill becomes law."
Wharton added that while the broadcasters' association supports the
subsidy concept "to ensure that no American is denied access to local
TV stations," it's unclear how such a subsidy would work.
It's also unclear how much, if any, of a subsidy would be necessary.
Already, the Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all TV
sets sold after July 2007 contain a digital TV tuner.
Considering that nearly 90 percent of American households already
subscribe to cable or satellite services, it also begs the question: Is
protecting free analog TV really worth the trouble?
"Finally, policymakers are starting to understand the serious
opportunity cost of using spectrum in this fashion," said Thierer.
While low-income households might need subsidies, other consumers might
need to bite the digital bullet. "The cost-benefit analysis is very
clear," he said. "The benefits outweigh the costs."
Even consumer advocates are accepting a hard date as a way to drive
the transition forward -- as long as subsidies go to consumers rather
than commercial interests.
"We fully support the notion that no TV should go blank," said Mark
Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America.
"But the cable and satellite guys could get a whack at this subsidy
money, and they should be required to provide compatibility without the
subsidy."
To be sure, McCain's bill is still in its infancy. While it likely
will pass through committee Wednesday, few expect it to advance far in
the few remaining weeks of this session of Congress, especially in an
election year.
But with Congress poised for a planned rewrite of the 1996
Telecommunications Act next year, the bill's provisions could end up in
a larger piece of legislation. Of course, McCain's chairmanship of the
Senate Commerce Committee expires this year, meaning that he won't
wield nearly as much power in 2005.
But in the remaining weeks of his reign, he's likely to make noise.
"McCain is kind of the maverick," said Kaufhold. "He'll push hard, and
the rest of the industry will drag its feet behind him."
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