DTV fees looming again

[Gregg Lengling]

President Bush is attempting to revive a plan that would require broadcasters to pay a $500 million fee for use of their current analog TV channels in 2007.

The plan is part of the $2.57 trillion budget proposal Bush presented to Congress on Monday. While Bush has pushed the plan in previous budget proposals to no avail, it could see some action in the 109th Congress as pressure is mounting to get broadcasters to make the switch to digital TV.

In the past, broadcasters could depend on their allies in Congress to kill the plan. But one of their key supporters, Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., the former chairman of the House Commerce Committee, has retired. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, runs the committee now, and he is decidedly less friendly to the industry.

Currently, broadcasters are required to stop analog transmissions at the end of 2006, or when 85% of the American TV viewing audience receives a digital signal, whichever comes later. The 85% number has long been considered an unreachable goal.

Last week, Barton warned broadcasters that he is out of patience, telling reporters that he wants Congress to enact a "hard date" that would force broadcasters to shut off their analog transmissions by year's end. Proposals to stop analog broadcasts so the frequencies can be auctioned off have become more appealing because of budgetary pressure, Barton said.

Bush projects that the deficit will hit a record $427 billion this year, the third straight year that the red ink in dollar terms has set a record. Bush projects that the deficit will fall to $390 billion in 2006 and gradually decline to $233 billion in 2009 and $207 billion in 2010.

Bush's 2006 spending plan, for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, counts on a healthy economy to boost revenues by 6.1% to $2.18 trillion. Spending, meanwhile, would grow by 3.5% to $2.57 trillion. It includes steep cuts in most domestic programs.

Bush's cuts and the tide of red ink make the analog broadcast frequencies inviting targets. Once broadcasters vacate the digital channels, those frequencies can be auctioned off for other telecommunications purposes. Estimates for government revenue from the auctions run as high as $100 billion.

Broadcast industry executives call the proposal wrong.

"For more than a decade, Congress has wisely rejected spectrum taxes on broadcasters because lawmakers recognized the timetable for transitioning to digital television will be determined by consumer acceptance of this new technology and not by arbitrary, budget-driven timelines," National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton said. "With roughly 1,400 local TV stations now transmitting digital and high-definition TV pictures, broadcasters have done our part to complete the digital transition. Applying a spectrum tax on local TV stations would slow the DTV transition and ultimately harm consumers who rely on over-the-air broadcasting for news, entertainment and public interest programming."

The budget proposal comes days before the FCC is expected to approve another digital TV policy that would increase the pressure on broadcasters.

Broadcasters are pulling out all the stops to prevent the commission from taking the vote that would require cable operators to carry only one digital TV channel for each local TV station. The industry wants cable operators to carry all the digital TV signals when broadcasters multicast the programming.

While one high-definition transmission takes about 6 MHz to transmit, digital TV allows broadcasters the flexibility to air one HDTV program -- with its movie-quality picture and CD-quality sound -- or four or five separate standard-definition digital channels.

Commercial broadcasters aren't the only ones to feel the budget-cutting knife, as Bush recommends cutting $10 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's $400 million budget for 2006.

The CPB is usually funded two years in advance in order to lessen political pressure on the agency, but Bush made no proposal for an advance appropriation. The administration wants CPB funded like any other agency.

CPB president and CEO Kathleen Cox said the organization recognizes "the need for fiscal restraint in order to support national defense and security" but added that she hopes the local communities would not be shortchanged.

"We will continue to work with Congress and the administration to support the programs and services that hundreds of local stations deliver and upon which their communities depend," she said.

[Doug Mohr]

Wasn't there a plan where all TVs sold in the US after day X would have to have digital tuners in them?

What happened to that?

Doug

[Gregg Lengling]

The guidelines were sorta like this (if I remember correctly)
50% of sets larger than 36" built after 7/1/04 must have ATSC tuners.
100 % of sets larger than 36" built after 7/1/05 must have ATSC tuners.
50% of sets between 25 and 36" built after 7/1/05 must have ATSC tuners.
100% of sets larger than 25" built after 7/1/06 must have ATSC tuners.
All manufactured sets after 7/1/07 must have tuners.

I think I remember this correctly as I didn't go look at the ruling on the FCC website, but it should be right or at least pretty close.

[Gregg Lengling]

Based on the FCC's DTV Tuner Phase-In Act adopted last summer, televisions and other electronic devices equipped with over-the-air analog reception technology must also be equipped with ATSC receivers, according to the timetable below.

Televisions equipped with cable plug-and-play cards, arriving in stores now, must also have ATSC reception.

• July 1, 2004:
50 percent of TVs 36 inches and above.

• July 1, 2005:
100 percent of TVs 36 inches and above;
50 percent of TVs 25-to-35 inches.

• July 1, 2006:
100 percent of TVs 25 inches and above.

• July 1, 2007:
100 percent of TVs 13 inches and above; All other devices that receive broadcast television signals.

From the FCC website.