Interesting general update on HDTV from New York Times
nytimes.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Thursday
are expected to address several outstanding digital television
(DTV) issues in an effort to further advance the emerging
market, as more consumers embrace the expensive
technology.
Broadcast stations are slowly making the transition from
analog signals to digital signals which offer viewers sharper,
clearer images -- a move to be completed by 2006 as long as
U.S. consumers buy the equipment to receive the signals.
The agency at an open meeting Thursday may consider
requiring electronics makers to include a tuner that could
receive digital signals in every new TV set made, as well as
extending the requirement that cable operators must carry on
their systems local stations that broadcast digital signals.
One reason for the slow transition to DTV has been the high
cost of sets turning off consumers. They typically cost
several thousands of dollars but statistics show sales are
picking up.
The Consumer Electronics Association said last week that
625,000 digital televisions worth about $1.4 billion were sold
to dealers in 2000, more than five times the number sold in
1999. The trade group said it expected the rising sales trend
to continue this year, with more than 1.1 million sets likely to
be sold, fetching $2.1 billion.
The FCC is also expected on Thursday to act on a petition
by a Florida broadcaster who has sought the agency's help in
getting a digital-only television station he plans to start
carried on the cable system operated by Adelphia
Communications Corp. (ADLAC.O) in the West Palm
Beach area.
The FCC is anxious for stations to move from the analog
spectrum to digital signals because the agency plans to begin
auctioning off the old analog airwaves to wireless
communications companies in March.
Congress gave the stations until 2006 to switch bands --
although the lawmakers wrote the law in a way that allows
the stations to go beyond that deadline should the digital
penetration rate not reach 85 percent by then.
DEBATE OVER DTV REQUIREMENTS
The agency is teed up to consider other issues related to the
advent of digital television, including channel positions digital
stations will occupy, rate regulations, tiers of service for
various channels and complaint processes.
The National Association of Broadcasting (NAB) said 167
stations are broadcasting in digital and urged the agency to
take quick action on must-carry rules and digital tuners in a
letter sent to the five FCC commissioners last week.
``No more than a handful of these stations, however, are
carried on any cable system and the absence of cable
carriage is a significant deterrent to sales of digital receivers
and investment in digital product,'' Edward Fritts, president
and chief executive of the trade group, said in the letter.
Some electronics manufacturers have urged the commission
to avoid imposing receiver requirements, warning that
consumer costs could rise sharply and unfairly.
``An FCC regulation mandating DTV reception capability in
all television receivers ... could imperil the DTV transition
and the return of (analog) spectrum and impose substantial
and unreasonable costs on consumers,'' Philips Electronics
NV (PHG.AS) (PHG.N) said in a filing with the FCC made
last month.
The commission could hold off imposing some requirements,
especially if the five-member FCC panel believed it did not
have the legal authority to do so. Instead, it could seek
Congressional action to obtain the necessary authority.
DIGITAL-ONLY STATION
As for the specific petition by a DTV station, Florida
broadcaster Guenter Marksteiner plans to launch WHDT-TV
channel 59 soon, offering high-definition programs from
German news network Deutsche Welle, syndicated shows
like the old private investigator series ``The Rockford Files''
and a local news show, according to the FCC.
The problem the station faces is that few consumers have
televisions that can receive the digital signal and, unlike other
broadcasters, WHDT-TV does not have a sister analog
channel.
Thus, the station has offered to aid cable operator Adelphia
in converting its signal from digital to analog so that it could
be broadcast on the cable system there, one FCC official
said.
``This kind of request (for carriage) is limited in some
respects to West Palm Beach but would have broader
applicability if there were other DTV-only stations like it in
other markets,'' the official said, declining further
identification.
A broadcast station can assert its rights under U.S. law --
known as ``must-carry'''' -- to be carried on cable systems,
but then cannot receive compensation for carriage.
Alternatively, a station that does not invoke its must-carry
rights can negotiate retransmission consent to receive some
form of non-monetary compensation, typically advertising. |
