As of Feb. 18, 2009, all full-power television stations in the U.S. are scheduled to stop broadcasting an analogue signal. Anyone who gets programming through an antenna and does not have a newer-model digital TV set will need to buy a box that will convert the digital signal to analogue. The government is providing two $40 coupons per household that can be used to buy these boxes. The problem facing the 2,600 low-power television stations represented by the association is that they are not subject to the deadline. Viewers who buy a converter box may actually block the low-power analog signal from those stations, while the full-power digital signal displays normally. The association, in a petition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday, asked the FCC to stop the marketing and distribution of the boxes.
The association cited a 1962 law called the All Channel Receiver Act which was adopted during the early years of UHF broadcasting. The law requires that devices that receive television signals be capable of picking up "all frequencies allocated by the FCC to television broadcasting." It is not certain how many viewers may be affected. The association characterizes its viewers as rural, underserved urban, elderly and non-English speaking. In addition to low-power stations, about 4,300 translator stations, which boost signals from full-power stations and relay them to rural areas, also are exempt from the 2009 deadline.
Nothing in the law prevents low-power stations from converting to digital, but for most stations, the cost is prohibitive. Ronald Bruno, president of the association, said converter boxes currently for sale will decrease viewership for low-power stations. "Every time a person gets a coupon, buys a converter box and plugs it in, we lose that viewer," he said. The FCC had no comment on the suit.
The converter box program is overseen by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Agency spokesman Bart Forbes said the law ordering the transition says boxes can "only receive digital signals" and the NTIA specifications on box design are consistent with the law. Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, accused the broadcast association of "trying an 11th-hour litigation strategy to freeze the entire nation in analogue." As of March 25, the NTIA reported it has received requests for 8.5 million coupons from 4.5 million households.
Six of the converter boxes that have been approved for sale by the NTIA allow for an analogue "pass-through" feature. According to the NTIA, they are the Philco TB150HH9, the Philco TB100HH9, the
Elsewhere, NATO plans to start an online TV channel to improve the image of the Western military alliance. The initiative will be launched at a summit next week in Bucharest, Romania, alliance spokesman James Appathurai said Wednesday. Much of its coverage will focus on the mission of the alliance's 47,000 troops in Afghanistan. NATO plans to have five TV crews sending regular reports from the country. The channel will be available on the alliance's Web site, http://www.nato.int. Broadcast quality footage will also be available for TV networks to download. Denmark is providing much of the funding for the project, which is part of an effort to boost flagging public support in several allied countries for the Afghanistan mission
