(Washington, D.C.) – Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) President Tom Schatz sent the following letter to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property in support of the re-authorization of the 1999 Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) with an amendment that would allow Digital Broadcast Satellite providers to rebroadcast digital signals, which would be at not extra cost to taxpayers, ultimately encourage the transition to digital TV (DTV) and allow Congress’s pledge of making digital service available to all Americans a reality:

The United States is undergoing a dramatic technological evolution in telecommunications.  This transformation should include a speedy transition from analog TV to DTV, which offers higher quality pictures and better sound.  However, this transition is stifled because of current government policy.

In 1996 and 1997 with the passage of the Telecommunications Act and the Balanced Budget Act, the outline for transitioning to DTV was formed.  These laws essentially mandated that all commercial broadcasters were to transmit digital signals to the public by May 1, 2002 and non-commercial broadcasters by May 1, 2003 and to return their analog spectrum to the government by the end of 2006.  This has barely begun to happen, in spite of the fact Congress gave broadcasters billions of dollars of digital spectrum free of charge in order to make the transition to digital service seamless.

It appears the reason for the delay is Congress does not require broadcasters to turn over their analog spectrum by December 31, 2006 if less than 85 percent of households in their market have televisions that can receive digital broadcasts.  Broadcasters are thus dragging their feet without fear of losing their spectrum, claiming that because so few households have a TV that can receive digital signals, it is not worth transmitting digital signals.  The reality is that consumers are reluctant to purchase an expensive DTV because they cannot access many digital signals.  In turn, DTV manufacturers are unable to drop their prices because there is so little demand for their product.  Thus, a vicious cycle has been created.  Congress can change this by amending SHVIA.

Congress should allow satellite TV providers to offer the network broadcasters’ DTV programming as a distant digital service to consumers unable to get it from their local broadcaster.  This is a modest change to SHVIA, which already allows rebroadcast of distant analog signals if the local broadcaster’s analog signal is not available over the air.  By allowing satellite companies to rebroadcast distant digital services, digital programming will increase and there will be more of a reason for consumers to purchase DTVs.  Consumer demand will drive down costs and increase quality.  Eventually, this will lead to a greater number of households having the ability to receive a digital broadcast from their local broadcaster.

The broadcasters are squatting on valuable spectrum that belongs to the American public because of their reluctance to move forward with digital broadcasting.  Congress should act now to ensure that the analog spectrum is returned to the FCC by 2006 so that it can be put to more efficient uses.  There are wireless companies willing to pay at auction to use this spectrum to provide new advanced services to consumers, and there are public safety officials, such as firemen and police officers, who were promised part of the spectrum and could deploy it to better protect our communities.  The longer that the broadcasters are permitted to withhold the analog spectrum from others, the clearer it becomes that the government is mismanaging an important resource of the people.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.