http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/10/21/Arts/digitalus_051021.html
Analog TV service to end in 2009 in U.S.
Last Updated Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:43:50 EDT
CBC Arts
A U.S. Senate panel has voted in favour of ending all analog television
service in the U.S. by April 7, 2009.
By that deadline all television stations would switch entirely to digital
broadcasts, freeing the airwaves for wireless companies and emergency
responders.
The legislation was approved Thursday by the Senate commerce committee and
Congress is to consider the issue next week.
Government would gain rights to the analog airwaves and plans to sell them
in an auction that could bring in $10 billion US or more.
The bill also earmarks up to $3 billion to subsidize the cost of digital
converter boxes for individual Americans so that existing analog
television sets could still work. The cost of the boxes is expected to be
about $50.
"We take the position that, if we're mandating this conversion, we cannot
leave people behind," Senator Ted Stevens, the committee chairman and an
Alaska Republican, told Reuters.
Broadcasters estimate there are 73 million television sets in American
homes not hooked up to cable or satellite services.
Current law requires stations to switch to airing only digital broadcasts
when 85 per cent of the country can receive the new signals, or by Dec.
31, 2006, whichever comes later.
However, lawmakers wanted a more certain date.
The April 7, 2009, date would avoid interfering with popular sporting
events, such as the NCAA college basketball tournament, which draws
enormous television audiences, as well as providing time for consumers to
buy new digital-ready sets.
Legislators want a wider spectrum for use by police and emergency
services, as communications lines became unreliable during disasters such
as recent hurricanes.
Canada has had digital stations since 2001 but no date has been set for a
full move to digital.
---
You are currently subscribed to telecom-cities as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To
unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Manage your mail settings at
http://forums.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/nyu.pl?enter=telecom-cities
RSS feed of list traffic:
http://www.mail-archive.com/telecom-cities@forums.nyu.edu/maillist.xml
