FCC Commissioners Differ On DTV Trial

Federal Communications Commission members Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein don't disagree on much. But with regard to the digital television transition trial in Wilmington (NC), about three months away, the two have agreed to disagree. Commissioner Copps pushed a somewhat reluctant FCC chairman Kevin Martin to embrace the idea of a single test market. Commissioner Adelstein has expressed a number of concerns about the Wilmington test. For instance, he’s questioned whether a coastal city like Wilmington is representative of other markets, especially interior zones with mountain ranges; and whether the test results will have any real meaning given that Wilmington is receiving special treatment from the FCC that no other market can expect. “It’s important that we give Wilmington the extra resources it needs in order to prepare for the fact that they are going early,” Commissioner Adelstein recently told reporters. “But the level we are talking about is going to, I think, undercut the legitimacy of the lessons that we learn from there because it won't be a true test case.”
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