House DTV Bill Faces Likely Delay

Action by the House Commerce Committee on terminating analog-TV service within a few years will likely be postponed by at least one week. The Senate Commerce Committee scheduled Oct. 19 to hold key votes on the same issue (see related story), but budget politics in the House are complicating the Commerce Committee's effort to complete work on digital-television issues at the same time. The House panel is unlikely to vote next week because House Budget Committee leaders are coming under pressure to cut spending or find new revenue to pay for Hurricane Katrina cleanup. The House Commerce Committee was expected to find about $15 billion in savings under the budget blueprint adopted before Katrina. The panel might be expected to come up with billions of dollars more.