House Bill Would Leave Most Consumers in the Dark During Digital TV Transition

Citing the 80 million analog television sets owned by consumers that will go dark after the digital TV transition, consumers groups Tuesday urged the House Commerce Committee to oppose a measure that would sharply limit funding to keep those TV sets working after the digital transition. The current House proposal ($830 million) covers only one-fourth of the 42 million American households that rely on over-the-air signals for viewing. Last week, the Senate passed its version of the bill, setting aside $3 billion from the $10 billion raised by the auction of public airwaves to help offset the cost of converter boxes needed to keep those TVs working. Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America and US PIRG urged the panel, when it votes Wednesday, to set aside adequate funding from the spectrum auction to fully fund a compensation and education program that ensures consumers won't be hit in the pocketbook during the DTV transition. “By compensating consumers, Congress isn't giving them anything; it merely holds them harmless from a government mandate that would otherwise make their perfectly good personal property virtually useless,” the groups wrote in a letter to the committee. “No consumer should bear the costs of the digital transition, particularly given the ample funding raised by the spectrum auction,” the groups said. See text of letter at the URL below.