2007 DTV Date Has Some Backers, But...

The heads of some major broadcasting groups said Wednesday they are ready for the switch to digital, with one even saying she thought moving the hard date for return of analog spectrum from 2009 to 2007 might be a good idea. The broadcasters' caveat, however, was that they didn't think viewers, or government, for that matter, were ready for that date, and that the government would have to take a comprehensive approach to the switch if those viewers were to be well-served by the transition. Broadcasters are concerned that the DTV transition bill coming out of the Senate will deal only with a hard date, and push off the political flash points of multicast must-carry and downcoversion of DTV signals, among others, to sometime next year.
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