Barton On Digital TV Transition Bill

On Wednesday "we will mark up legislation effectively setting Thursday January 1, 2009, as the day America goes all digital. The analog television signals that have come into our homes over the air since the birth of TV will end the night before, and a great technical revolution that has been in the making for years will finally be complete. In June 2004, at my first DTV hearing since becoming chairman, I announced that expediting the DTV transition would be a top priority. I also noted that the 85-percent loophole in current law is delaying the consumer benefits of digital television and preventing the clearing of broadcast spectrum for critical public safety and wireless broadband uses. Since June 2004, we have held four more hearings on DTV, including one in May of this year on a staff draft of the legislation. We have heard from government, consumer groups, and many sectors of the communications industry. I believe the legislation before us tomorrow strikes the right balance on the concerns raised by those witnesses and the Members of this committee. The DTV legislation brings needed certainty to allow consumers, broadcasters, cable and satellite operators, manufacturers, retailers, and government to prepare for the end of the transition. It includes a strong consumer education measure. And it helps ensure that all consumers have continued access to broadcast programming, regardless of whether they use analog or digital televisions, or whether they watch television signals broadcast by a local station or subscribe to pay-TV. Enactment of this legislation by December would give us three years to prepare for the transition. That is more than enough time for manufacturers and retailers to move low-cost digital televisions and converter-boxes into the market, for the FCC to complete the channel allocation process, for broadcasters to finalize their digital facilities, and for government and industry to prepare consumers for the transition. I look forward to the renaissance of television in America that this important legislation will bring, and I urge my colleagues to support its adoption."
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