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By DONNA GOODISON
WGBH Boston yesterday urged Congress to allocate at least $20 million so public television stations can educate the public off- air about the nation's transition from broadcast to digital TV in 2009.
WGBH chief executive Jon Abbott also stressed the need to compel the two largest U.S. direct broadcast satellite providers, DIRECTV and EchoStar, to carry digital public television channels once the switchover occurs.
Beginning Feb. 17, 2009, analog TVs not connected to a digital- to-analog converter box, cable or satellite will "go dark" because they'll be unable to receive digital signals. But according to an Association of Public Television Stations survey, 51 percent of Americans have "no idea" that the transition is scheduled.
Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, Abbott said Congress must fund a nationwide, grassroots consumer education campaign to ensure no Americans, particularly the elderly and low-income households, are left without TV after the transition.
Many TV watchers who don't have cable or satellite TV are viewers of public broadcasting, because its programming is still free, Abbott said. Approximately 21 million U.S. households receive TV programming using over-the-air antennas, according to the APTS.
"The key policy goal of this transition must be the preservation of free, over-the-air television, both commercial and public," Abbott said during the hearing.
From Jan. 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009, all U.S. households will be eligible to receive up to two $40 coupons toward the purchase of converter boxes to allow their analog TVs to receive digital signals. The boxes are expected to retail for about $60 each.
Cable subscribers with analog TVs, meanwhile, won't have to buy the boxes. Cable providers will duplicate the digital signals of "must carry" broadcast TV stations into an analog format. And while the cable industry also has agreed to carry public TV stations' digital signals, the APTS has yet to reach an accord with satellite providers. "The satellite companies say it's a capacity issue," Abbott said. "My problem (with that) is they're carrying 1,500 commercial stations around the country."
Some 30 million U.S. households - including about 5 percent of Boston-area households - use satellite service to watch TV, according to Abbott.
"We're hoping that Congress would . . . make it be compulsory for there to be carriage by the satellite carriers," he said. "Otherwise, 360 public television stations around the country are not guaranteed to reach homes that they should serve."
Originally published by By DONNA GOODISON.
(c) 2007 Boston Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
