After The Storm, New Orleans Stations Add Fuel To DTV Transition Debate

How your regulation dollars serve you: WWL-TV New Orleans, owned by Belo, took advantage of the federally mandated conversion to digital television to revamp its internal disaster preparedness plan. In 1999, the station replaced its transmitter for digital conversion -- and relocated it to a more secure site 18 feet above sea level in Gretna, a New Orleans suburb. But a competing broadcaster warns that the federal government is moving too quickly to force television stations to relinquish spectrum as part of the conversion to digital TV. Fred Young, a vice president for Hearst-Argyle, owner of WDSU-TV in New Orleans, said policymakers should not be so hasty in their rush to digital. "The critical role the broadcast industry plays in times of natural disaster may not be fully understood by those who advocate premature return of the analog spectrum," he said. Although power outages rendered normal TV reception impossible for most New Orleans residents, some were able to use battery-operated portable receivers. Those same sets, in a digital TV world, would require a separate set-top digital receiver that likely would not operate on batteries. Current law sets Dec. 31, 2006, as the target date for the return of the analog spectrum -- but it provides exceptions for broadcasters in markets where less than 85 percent of households are able to view digital broadcasts. That threshold effectively exempts virtually the entire country from the current statute, and has spurred efforts on Capitol Hill to set a "hard deadline" for the DTV transition. That threshold effectively exempts virtually the entire country from the Dec. 31, 2006 deadline. Under the transition to digital television broadcasts, a portion of the spectrum currently used for analog television transmission would be reallocated for public safety agencies. Hurricane Katrina consequently has given new urgency to efforts in Congress to require a "hard deadline" that is earlier than the end of 2008.
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Lee Hall]