Spectrum fees for TV broadcasters proposed

[Gregg Lengling]

President George W. Bush today proposed to sock TV broadcasters with $500 million in annual spectrum fees, starting in 2007. Under the proposal, which was included in the president's proposed federal budget for fiscal 2004, the levies would be assessed for use of analog spectrum. Broadcasters would be exempt from the obligation once they made the switch to digital and returned their analog channels to the government. Similar proposals were included in the president's previous budgets but were derailed by broadcasters. Also in his budget today, the president proposed a $15 million increase, to $380 million, for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2004. But he didn't include an additional $100 million that public broadcasters had been seeking to help them make the switch to digital. In a statement, top public broadcasting executives said the president's plan could "seriously compromise our ability to deliver the services we are required by law to provide to the American people."

[Tom Snyder]

Finally the business model that allows stations to make money by switching to digital:

Switch or lose/pay a boatload of money to Uncle Sam.  

How does $500 million breakout per station?

[Matt Heebner]

As much as I am against government stepping in...I am glad to see Bush giving a rightous kick-in-the-butt.  Also glad to see that the 2006 deadline won't be an "idle" threat.
 This seems like the "added" incentive to get broadcasters going, and to get consumers rolling.


Matt