FERREE TV: FCC BUREAU CHIEF DEFENDS PLAN

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:08:13 -0700
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>

FERREE TV: FCC BUREAU CHIEF DEFENDS PLAN

Are the country's television station owners spectrum hogs? "They would
rather eat their children than give up that spectrum," FCC Media Bureau
Chief Ken Ferree told reporters Wednesday. He was defending the
Commission plan to advance the day when enough consumers get digital TV
so as to meet the government's long-standing trigger for reclaiming
analog channels and auctioning them to wireless companies and others.
The FCC is working on a proposal that would count cable and satellite
subscribers as receiving digital signals even if all they are getting
is down-resolutioned digital signals.  "We'd love for people to get
pretty pictures, but this part of the transition is not really about
that," Mr. Ferree said. "It's just about trying to make sure sets work"
after analog channels go away. The main problem may be that 15% of
American do not pay for cable or satellite TV services. Advancing the
analog shutoff date, these people will have to buy digital TV sets or
convertor boxes. For people too poor to pay for converters, Congress
should consider subsidizing the $50-$100 the devices might cost, Chief
Ferree said. If the plan is approved by the FCC commissioners,
broadcasters would have to choose by Oct. 11, 2008, either the analog
"down conversion" or full digital carriage option, the latter which
would deliver high definition to whatever number of cable customers
have digital sets by then. The National Association of Broadcasters has
expressed concern that the initiative is "simply a spectrum reclamation
plan that would strand both consumers and broadcasters who have
collectively spent billions embracing the best television technology on
the planet."

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
<http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA410640? display=Breaking+News>

Multichannel News also covered the press event adding this quip from
Ferree: "They will hold on to this spectrum to their dying day, if they
can."
Ferree: TV Has 'Death Grip' on Analog Spectrum
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA410685?display=Breaking+News>

In addition, the proposal the Association of Public Television Stations
will not go far unless commercial broadcasters join in, say public
safety officials and the wireless industry. The industry also sees
auction revenues being directed to a public broadcasting trust fund as
"too self serving," preferring a spectrum relocation fund (speaking of
self serving).
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Dinesh Kumar]


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Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>

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