NTIA’s Kneuer: No Single Entity Meant to Be in Charge of DTV Education

NTIA'S KNEUER: NO SINGLE ENTITY MEANT TO BE IN CHARGE OF DTV EDUCATION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
John Kneuer, head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, said that by statute, nobody has been assigned to take charge of the education campaign for the transition from analog to digital transmission, and that may be a good thing. That came in response to a criticism from the Government Accountability Office, leveled at a Hill hearing earlier in the week, that no one was in charge. Kneuer said government and industry were working collaboratively through the DTV Transition Coalition to educate viewers, but there are benefits to not having a "command and control" policy were a regulator "dictates to an industry participant: 'This is the explicit public communication message you need to do; this is how you have to do it.’" He pointed to the cable industry's announced $200 million DTV-education campaign, saying, "If every communication that they were going to be making had to be approved or dictated by a regulator, maybe they don't make that voluntary commitment." He also pointed out that different industries will have different messages. "Consumers have multiple choices to make," he said, adding that he was not "remotely" surprised that the cable industry would tout the fact that its subscribers would have a "seamless" transition, or for broadcasters to counter: "The best digital experience is over the air. Cut the cord to cable. Why are you subscribing to those guys? the digital future is over the air and we want to reconnect with our customers directly.” Responding to Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Michael Copps' call for the FCC to take more of a lead in that coordination, Kneuer said the FCC "has an important role," but he wasn't sure the commission was "best-positioned to engage in a public-education campaign."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6485462.html

* NTIA Meeting and Expo Showcases Consumer Education Efforts for Digital TV Transition and Converter Box Coupon Program
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2007/DTVexpo_092507.html