Tweaks To DTV Transition Concern Technology Sector

TWEAKS TO DTV TRANSITION CONCERN TECHNOLOGY SECTOR
The nation's congressionally-mandated transition to digital television in 2009 remains intact after the Senate Commerce Committee recently cleared sweeping communications legislation, but some technology industry members are concerned about potential exceptions to the rule. The bill provides a two-year extension of the Feb. 17 date to February 2011 for Spanish-language analog stations broadcasting on channels 2 to 51 within 50 miles of the U.S. border. The language was included in the final draft of the S. 2686 legislation that Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) brought to the three-day voting session. The bill cleared the committee on June 28 by a 15-7 margin. But its fate is uncertain because of other controversies such as network neutrality and franchising language. The two-year extension is one of a dozen of provisions in S. 2686 affecting the transition to digital television, which calls for television stations to stop sending analog broadcasts by the mid-February date. The House-passed H.R. 5252 does not include a comparable section concerning DTV. The tech sector is also worried about another potential change pushed by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Conrad Burns (R-Montana), and Byron Dorgan (D-ND). Their amendment directs the FCC to reconfigure the spectrum band that will be up for auction to give smaller wireless carriers a better chance of winning.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-ALRM1152731315474.html