Senate Aging Committee Eyes DTV Switch With Concern

SENATE AGING COMMITTEE EYES DTV SWITCH WITH CONCERN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Senate Special Committee on Aging will hold a hearing today on the effect of the digital transition on senior citizens. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is scheduled to testify. He is planning to say that the FCC is not prepared, "highlighting the minor efforts the FCC has made in working with the Administration on Aging and its allied aging network to educate seniors about the DTV transition and its implications." Among those scheduled to testify in addition to Adelstein are John Kneuer, head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is overseeing the DTV-to-analog converter-box program, and Marcellus Alexander, executive vice president of the National Association of Broadcasters. A representative from the Government Accountability Office is also expected to talk about what it says is inter-agency confusion over the jurisdiction issue. The FCC is overseeing the actual technical switch from analog to digital broadcasting, while the NTIA is handling the converter-box program, including education about the boxes and coupons the government is subsidizing toward their purchase. Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) is concerned that the dual FCC/NTIA jurisdiction is confusing and that not enough is being done to prepare seniors for the switch.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6479617.html?rssid=193

* Keeping the DTV Countdown Clicking
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Harry A. Jessell]
A Q&A with National Telecommunications and Information Administration head John Kneuer. Ketchum, the public relations firm that served in the Department of Education's hiring of Armstrong Williams to promote No Child Left Behind, has been hired to do NTIA's DTV converter box program public education campaign.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/09/18/daily.3/