House DTV Draft: Subsidy, No Must-Carry

The House Commerce Committee has circulated a new draft of its DTV transition bill that sets a hard date of December 31, 2008, only three months and one week sooner than that passed Thursday by the Senate Commerce Committee (April 7, 2009 see http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/442). The House bill also contains a converter-box subsidy that was not in the draft issued earlier in the year. As expected, it does not require cable to carry broadcaster's multiple digital signals. The House bill allows cable operators to convert broadcaster's signals from digital to analog, at the headend or the set, so long as it does not "materially degrade" the signal, though it also lays out a bunch of conversion scenarios and says, by definition, they don't qualify as degrading the signal. Specifically, it requires cable systems (with capacity of more than 550 MHz) to transmit both a standard definition version of a must-carry broadcast signal (so no HDTV pass-though requirement) and an analog version for the first five years, after which they must deliver a digital version of a station's signal. The bill also requires broadcasters to air two, 60-second PSAs per day, one in prime time, throughout all of 2008 informing viewers that their analog-only sets won't work after Dec. 31, 2008, without a converter. Cable and satellite providers, and other multichannel video distributors, would have to include bill-stuffer announcements. The bill would provide only $830 million (after administrative costs) for subsidies for DTV-to-analog converter boxes for every household. The subsidy would be in the form of a redeemable coupon worth $40. That would suggest the boxes will cost at least that, and more like $50 or $60. The Senate bill also sets the value of its subsidy at $40 per set-top converter, but does not spell out how the program would be administered. The House bill requires viewers to obtain a coupon request form from government buildings, and likely online, then actively apply for the subsidy. In essence the subsidy is meant to target those who really need it by creating a three-step process: get the application; get the coupon, then get the box at a retailer. It is also not open-ended, lasting about one year. The auction of analog TV spectrum would begin in January 2008.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6276788?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* Text of bill: http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Markups/10252005/Title_I.PDF
** Follow the bill's progress at:
http://www.benton.org/node/446
*** Engel Wants DTV Waiver For NY
Not that Congress has actually passed any legislation setting a hard date to the end of analog TV, but just in case it does, Rep Eliot Engel (D-NY) wants New York City broadcasters to first in line for a waiver. “It seems that Congress has forgotten its pledge to help New York recover from the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. If this waiver is denied," Rep Engel said, "hundreds of thousands of people could be without free, over-the air television signals."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6276892?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)