DTV Angst Abounds

An optimist might suggest that as the digital-TV countdown clock continues to tick away toward the Feb. 17, 2009 deadline, problems should be dissipating. But if that is the case, it would be hard to tell from the issues that roiled in Washington last week. Smaller cable operators, for one thing, are attempting to leverage the DTV transition in their battle with broadcasters over the retransmission consent process. Officials last week were making the novel argument that breakdowns in retransmission consent negotiations (many current contracts are up at the end of this year) could confuse viewers and impede the process. Also in conflict is the issue of how to handle DTV-to-analog converter box subsidies when the program runs through its first round of funding -- $890 million -- less than two months from now. At a Capitol Hill oversight hearing on the state of the transition last week, there appeared to be confusion, or at least disagreement, over whether viewers whose $40 DTV-to-analog converter box coupons had expired would be able to reapply for them. Some key legislators have been pushing for an answer to that question, though the government agency overseeing the program may have to turn back to those same legislators to get that authority. At that same hearing, Mark Goldstein of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) pointed out that more than a third of analog-only households surveyed indicated they had no plans to buy a new TV or converter box, or had no plans to hook up to cable or satellite, or did not know what they would do.
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