US Commerce Cmte Head Wants DTV by 2009

U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, head of the Senate's powerful Commerce Committee, says he wants television broadcasters to be all-digital by 2009.

During remarks at the 19th Annual Television Conference, held by the Association of Maximum Service Television, Senator Ted Stevens (R – Alaska) said he supports setting a hard deadline of 2009 for television broadcasters to complete their transition to digital television, and, on October 19, he plans to have his committee consider a bill fixing that date.

Senator Stevens’ comments put pressure on television broadcasters to cease broadcasting long-standard analog signals and transmit only digital television. Digital television offers higher quality images and audio and more efficient use of existing electromagnetic spectrum, but is incompatible with analog television equipment.

Existing law calls for U.S. television broadcasters to switch over to all-digital broadcasts by the end of 2006, or when 85 percent of the U.S. television audience can successfully receive digital transmissions, whichever comes later. Under that law, a full transition to digital television may not occur until 2012 or 2015, as most Americans have yet to even consider digital television due to the high cost of replacing their existing, perfectly functional analog television equipment with new digital-capable gear.

But according to Stevens, America consumers just need a swift kick to the backside: "With a 2009 hard date, there would be three Christmas buying seasons during which Americans will buy digital television sets." Another fiscal motivation: once television broadcasters turn off their analog signals, the federal government plans to auction off many of the frequencies currently used by analog television to wireless providers, which should raise billions of dollars. Some of that money would fund a "converter box program" to help low-income consumers who cannot afford new digital televisions to view digital signals on analog equipment.

The Commerce Committee has not addressed the potential environmental impact of hundreds of millions of discarded analog televisions, most of which contain heavy metals like lead and mercury, as well as other environmental toxins.