Digital TV is Coming
Digital TV is coming and an important question is “what is it going to
bring with it?” Will it bring an expanded requirement to serve
the public interest, or an expanded ability for greater profits?
There was action in House and Senate committees this week with no clear
winners and losers.
At issue is everything from when will compliance be mandated to how will cable companies be required to handle “must
carries,” and how to allocate uses for bandwidth that will become
available in the transition. Additional issues are a) how much publicly-supported consumer education will be available, b) how much subsidy for the purchase of DTV converter boxes for users
that still have analog sets, c) do we create a Digital Opportunity Investment Trust to promote public interest, and d) do we allow the industry to use “broadcast flags” to prevent recording and copying at home.
Many groups are lobbying hard to influence the future of media in this
country. The players are everyone from the industry (profits),
John McCain (emergency response on unused bandwith), American Library
Association (against broadcast flags), SMART Coalition (for consumer
education and converter boxes), and progressive and media reform groups
(affordable broadband).
The transition from analog to digital signals for broadcast TV is a
great opportunity to shape our future. Get informed and be ready
for grassroots action as these proposals begin to take shape over the
next few months.
Blog For Iowa 