More Snags for HDTV

The HDTV revolution has hit another snag in the setting of a firm cutoff date. Originally the cutoff date was scheduled for December 2006 or when 85 percent of US households adopted digital television, whichever came last. A move for a firm cutoff date had grown in popularly with many in the CE industry. On October 21 this year, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. In the bill, the date for the shutoff of analog TV was set for April 7, 2009. According to a release by the committee, “this hard date establishes a date certain by which public safety personnel will be able to use an additional 24 MHz of spectrum recovered from the digital transition.” The bill also states that the Commerce Committee is to raise $4.8 billion in revenue in the next five years from the sale of the analog spectrum. An allocation of $3 billion was included in the bill for a digital converter box subsidy program for people who haven’t purchased digital TVs.

Making things more complicated, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, on October 27th, approved legislation that set the analog shutoff date at January 1, 2009. Rep Joe Bartan (R-TX) noted, “Enactment of this legislation by December would give us three years to prepare for the transition. It includes a strong consumer education measure.” The House bill included a $990 million fund for a digital-to-analog set-top-box program, considerably less than the Senate proposal. Under the House’s legislation, the program would be administered by the National Telecommunication Information Administration, which would supply two set-top-box coupons to any consumer who requested them. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 15 million homes currently rely on over-the-air broadcasting.

Further, the House bill mandates that all new television 13-inches or larger must include a digital tuner by March 1, 2007