NY DTVs Could Get $30 Million

With the support of House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) the House Commerce Committee has approved an amendment, introduced by Rep Eliot Engel (D-NY) and two other New York representatives, to give New York City TV stations $30 million to make the 2009 hard date of converting to digital. The funds will be used for a series of transmitters to carry the station's signals. Rep Engel pointed out that those stations' transmitters were wiped out on 9/11, and that the move to the Empire State Building had already cost $50 million. The Metropolitan Television Alliance, essentially a collective of New York broadcasters, have decided to move to the new Freedom Tower, but that won't be ready until 2010, while the transition deadline is the beginning of 2009.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6277949?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
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