Experts: DTV Bill Won't Pass Quickly
Telecommunications experts Tuesday were skeptical that legislation intended to spur the transition to digital television would be successful in the near future. "It's not going to happen this year," said Steve Effros -- former president of the Cable Telecommunications Association and current head of the consulting firm Effros Communications -- at a panel sponsored by the New America Foundation.
The legislation being considered is "too complicated," he said. And while "the process is starting," it will be at least two or three years before anything is completed, added Effros -- who headed the Cable Telecommunications Association before it became part of what is now the National Cable and Telecommunications Association in 1999.
Broadcasters were given additional spectrum several years ago to make the transition to digital television. Broadcasters currently send both digital and analog television signals, but under current law they must cease analog broadcasts by Dec. 31, 2006, or when 85 percent of households can receive digital signals -- whichever is later. A draft bill unveiled by leading Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week would set a Dec. 31, 2008 "hard date" for the transition to digital broadcasts..
Michael Petricone, vice president of government affairs for the Consumer Electronics Association, was more upbeat on the prospect for a DTV bill -- but did not indicate when he thought lawmakers would come to an agreement. "It's our top priority," he said. "We want it and we want it now." Supporters on Capitol Hill have been rallying support to combat those opposed to a hard date for the DTV transition, Petricone said.
Tuesday's panel was organized to discuss a new book from NAF Senior Research Fellow J.H. Snider -- which argues that architects of revamped telecom legislation will likely fall into the same traps they faced when crafting the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
"It's going to get a lot more complex before it's done," Snider said. Those crafting the 1996 legislation had "bigger fish to fry" and did not focus on a sole issue, he said. If talks this time around remain more singularly focused, "it is going to invite more controversy," he added.
"There are many more interested players including, increasingly, the public," said Andrew Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project. He suggested that the makeup of the current congressional leadership might affect negotiations.
The architects of the 1996 law were "extraordinarily talented and deft," he said, pointing to such figures as former Rep. W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., and former Sens. Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, D-S.C., and Bob Dole, R-Kan. "The current leadership and committee chairs are not the same type of legislators," Schwartzman said. They are not necessarily less capable than their predecessors, he said -- but, rather, they differ greatly in personalities and legislative styles.
Broadcasters have "succeeded politically in spite of [their] political ineptitude," Schwartzman said, adding that the group's "sheer power has enabled them to bumble through" the process. He contended, however, that "the string has run out with the broadcasters" in terms of their ability to block action.
Snider said he had contacted several representatives from the broadcasting community about participating in Tuesday's forum, but he had not heard back.
In a related development, House Homeland Security Chairman Christopher Cox, R-Calif., Tuesday wrote to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, congratulating him on crafting the DTV bill.
However, Cox, a bill sponsor, suggested that the transition should be financed by the marketplace rather than the federal government. "Since we have traditionally not asked taxpayers to cover the costs of televisions for even the neediest of consumers, it stands to reason that taxpayers should not be asked to cover the cost of an upgrade," Cox wrote -- referring to the debate over whether the bill should subsidize the purchase of set-top boxes needed for analog TV sets to receive digital signals.