Congress Should Delay the Digital TV Transition

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

For a year I have said not to hold your breath on the transition.  
Every one said -- no it is "no problem"-- hmmm djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: January 8, 2009 12:05:59 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Congress Should Delay the Digital TV Transition



              Congress Should Delay the Digital TV Transition

                http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000490.html


Greetings.  Ever since the "final" timing of the U.S. digital
television (DTV) transition analog programming cutoff was announced
for February 17 of this year, I have suggested that betting your life
against another delay was perhaps a bit risky.  Now comes word that a
variety of interested parties are wisely pushing for just such a
delay, but partly for a somewhat surprising and rather depressing
reason ( http://www.wftv.com/digital-tv/18437037/detail.html ).

My concern all along was primarily consumer confusion.  Promos trying
to explain the situation seemed to run more often on channels only
available to cable and satellite subscribers -- who were much less in
need of the information (since by definition they already had at least
one set that would "survive" the transition).  The key announcements
seemed to show up much less frequently on broadcast channels where
they were really needed.

Even worse, much of the information that has been available has led to
even more confusion among broadcast TV viewers, many of whom have been
falsely led to believe that they needed to subscribe to cable or
satellite to keep receiving broadcast TV signals.

The available DTV converters are just plain confusing to many
viewers, especially folks who have been watching the same old TVs with
"rabbit ear" antennas for ages.  Even if they get everything hooked up
right, many people will find that their reception under the digital
regime is unacceptable due to coverage variations and differing
antenna requirements.  And I wonder how many persons with digital
televisions and converters realize that they usually have to trigger
manually scans to pick up digital channel changes?

Most of these problems could have been predicted.  But now comes word
that the federal program to help pay for converter boxes has run out
of funds, being tied to the expiration of unused $40 converter
coupons.  Even if Congress bypassed the funding requirements today,
the coupons can take weeks to reach people after their requests have
been approved, and there's barely more than a month left before the
February 17 analog programming cutoff for full power stations.  There
is also rising concern that FCC call centers will be swamped with
confused (former) viewers starting at the deadline.

While we can argue about the manner in which the more technical
aspects of the transition have been handled, the mismanagement of the
converter box coupon program is inexcusable.  It didn't take a genius
to figure out that there would be a rush of coupon requests near the
cutoff date, and to run out of resources at exactly that time is
utterly shameful -- and potentially dangerous as well.

Many viewers could in theory buy converters completely with their own
money of course, but given the current economic climate, it's likely
that significant numbers would forgo getting converters if that were
their only option.  And cutting people off from all television in this
day and age has enormous public safety ramifications.  A month after
the official cutoff date, even public safety announcements on the
analog channels are supposed to cease.

The entire DTV transition project has been mismanaged from the word
go.  While it's impossible to predict exactly how bad the picture will
be after February 17th, simple prudence dictates that the DTV
transition deadline be delayed until the coupon program can be
realigned and better public information properly disseminated.  I
recommend a delay of six months to one year.

I'm as eager as anyone else to see the new uses of the spectrum that
will be freed up by the completed DTV transition -- but not at the
cost of millions of people, often exactly those persons who most
depend on a single old TV for their connection to the outside world,
being left out in the broadcasting cold.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com




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