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To: Alan Brezin who wrote (2225)	7/9/1998 10:21:00 AM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 4748

Thursday July 9 12:21 AM EDT Technical problems delaying high-definition TV dailynews.yahoo.com By Aaron Pressman WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A variety of technical glitches threaten to slow the adoption of high-definition television, officials from the broadcast, cable and consumer electronics industries told Congress on Wednesday. Problems have arisen developing connections between new high-definition TV sets, cable boxes, and other equipment, while over-the-air tests of the technology have found serious interference blocking some signals, they said. Major stations in the 10 largest markets will begin some digital broadcasts by November, but "now we face problems beyond our control," said Gregory Schmidt, general counsel of LIN Television Corp, at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. "Cable carriage of digital TV is uncertain at best and consumers' purchase of digital TV sets will be frustrated by uncertainty about these sets working with cable and about their ability to receive and display DTV (digital TV) signals, both via cable and over-the-air," said Schmidt, who was testifying on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters. "Call this whatever you want, but it hardly qualifies as a success story in the making," noted committee chairman Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona. Alan McCollough, president of the popular electronics chain Circuit City Stores Inc., conceded early HDTV sets would not be able to connect to cable boxes or digital VCRs and receive high-definition signals. That worried lawmakers, who feared the various problems could doom the transition from current analog broadcasting to new digital technologies, a process that by law was supposed to be completed by 2006. "If we don't do it right the first time, I think the technology will fail," warned Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns. Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens said he feared for the "early adopters," consumers who spend thousands of dollars for the first high-definition TV sets. The slow development of technical standards could make some early equipment obsolete, he said. "Are we going into another Betamax situation?" Stevens asked, alluding to the video recording technology that was nudged out of the market by the competing VHS standard. Under the government's plan, affiliates of the four networks in the 10 largest markets will begin digital broadcasts by May 1, 1999, and in the top 30 markets by November 1999. All other commercial stations will begin digital broadcasting no later than May 1, 2002, with all non-commercial stations going digital by May 1, 2003. Digital technology is expected to allow broadcasters to squeeze as many as six channels through an existing channel, or TV stations could offer a single high-definition signal. Until 2006, broadcasters are allowed to also broadcast analog signals. At Wednesday's hearing, broadcasters and cable operators also argued over the need for a law requiring cable systems to carry all digital programming. Under existing "must carry" rules, cable systems must carry all ordinary broadcast channels. But digital broadcasts will be phased in over time, so for many years stations will air programs in both formats. Cable operators said if they were forced to carry both types of programs simultaneously, they would run out of channel space and have to drop many cable-only channels. Broadcasters argued they could not build an audience for digital TV without some form of must-carry, perhaps phased in as cable systems expanded their channel capacity. The Federal Communications Commission at a meeting Thursday plans to begin the process of reviewing must-carry rules for digital TV. Reuters/Variety