Obama DTV Plan Splits AT&T, Verizon

President-elect Obama's plan to delay the nation's switch to digital broadcasting on Feb. 17 has driven a wedge between AT&T and Verizon Communications. AT&T released a letter Monday night endorsing a three-month delay as a special, one-time event designed to aid consumers who could lose over-the-air TV service when analog signals are shut off at midnight on Feb. 17. While AT&T is willing to accommodate the wishes of the new Obama government, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is concerned that any delay would do more harm than good and should be rejected. AT&T and Verizon paid about $16 billion combined for spectrum auctioned last year by the Federal Communications Commission. But the two can't use the new airwaves until analog TV stations vacate as part of the complicated movement of TV stations associated with the DTV transition. AT&T and Verizon want to use the spectrum to rollout their most advanced wireless broadband access services, also called 4G service. "Delaying the DTV transition will delay our ability to upgrade those frequencies to 4G broadband for American consumers and have a negative impact on our nation's international competitiveness," Seidenberg said.