DTV still up in the air................................
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06/12/97 - 11:00 AM ET - Click reload often for latest version
Digital TV still up in the air
Networks to air HDTV in '98
HBO says it will begin HDTV broadcasts next summer, and the major networks are expected to begin free, on-air broadcasts of HDTV by the end of next year. The networks, however, have been less than specific about whether they plan to broadcast other forms of digital TV (DTV). FCC rules allow various types of DTV. Among them:
High-definition TV (HDTV), which has five times the picture detail of current TV. Standard definition TV (SDTV), which is lower resolution than HDTV, but as good or better than today's over-the-air signal. Broadcasters could send three to six SDTV programs at the same time or send data with the programs.
On the other hand, the PC industry wants to emphasize World Wide Web and Internet content along with DTV.
TV broadcasters got the spectrum needed to broadcast high definition TV (HDTV) earlier this spring. But it is becoming clear that the future of TV is not yet focused.
Digital TV is being discussed on Capitol Hill this week because the budget agreement struck between the White House and Congressional Republicans includes more than $26 billion in proposed revenue from the auction of the current analog TV spectrum.
In April, the Federal Communications Commission gave more than 1,500 TV stations a second channel for free, over-the-air digital broadcasts, including HDTV. To help meet the proposed five-year budget, many political leaders want to auction off stations' analog channels in 2001. Buyers could use them after 2006 when the stations are supposed to have gone digital.
During a House Commerce Telecommunications subcommittee budget markup, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., proposed a measure, defeated Tuesday, that would have required all TVs manufactured or imported after 2001 have either a built-in digital receiver or a digital conversion device, such as a set-top box. "The point here is that we don't want consumers to be deceived into buying sets that are going to go black," says Markey spokesman David Moulton.
Another proposal, defeated Wednesday, from Rep. Elizabeth Furse, D-Ore., would have required that TVs start carrying a sticker stating that the sets would be obsolete after 2006.
Opponents call such proposals scare tactics. "To tell consumers their . . . analog sets will be obsolete is simply wrong," says Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, who called Markey's proposal "preposterous" and the sticker "outrageous."
Analog TV sets will work as they do now until at least 2006, TV manufacturers say. Until then, they plan to continue selling analog TVs and, eventually, transitional products - often described as converter boxes that might cost $100 to $150. However, the limitation of most current TVs would prevent viewers from getting the full video advantages of, say, HDTV, which offers five times the detail of current screens.
Some have already announced HDTV plans. Zenith expects to have large projection HDTV receivers out by Christmas 1998. Mitsubishi plans to have at least three models ($8,000-$11,000) out in the fourth quarter of 1998.
Further complicating the issues: Not everyone thinks that analog broadcasts will be phased out by 2006, nor is there agreement on the value of that spectrum, which eventually could be used for something other than TV broadcasts.
More than $10 billion has been raised through the auction of the public airwaves - for the use of cellular telephones and other wireless services - but a recent auction of the wireless communication spectrum fetched a mere $13.6 million, far below the anticipated $1.8 billion.
Markey and Sen. John Dingell, D-Mich. support allowing the FCC to change the auction's timing to maximize the spectrum's value.
Moreover, subcommittee chairman Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., wants to allow broadcasters to keep analog licenses if fewer than 95% of viewers in a market own digital receivers by 2006. "None of us has a crystal ball to know by what certain year consumers are going to embrace digital TV," says Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson.
Meantime, manufacturers worry that such legislation will confuse consumers and stifle current TV sales. Color TV sales for the first four months of this year totaled nearly 6 million units, slightly less than the same period last year. "This is a good case where we should let the marketplace solve it," says Jim Gatman of Thomson Consumer Electronics, which makes RCA TVs.
By Mike Snider, USA TODAY |
