Tuesday, April 19, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.
When the United States converts to digital broadcasting from the existing analog system, people could wake up one day, turn on their televisions and see a blank screen.
And if the public sees a blank screen, there would be plenty of lawmakers who expect they'd see a similar void in their political careers.
The issue of whether to establish a "hard date" deadline for the transition from analog to digital technology dominated discussion at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual congressional breakfast Monday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
More than 100,000 broadcast industry professionals are in the city this week for the five-day convention and trade show, considered the world's largest electronic media event.
ABC News commentator Sam Donaldson led a panel discussion with eight representatives of the House and Senate who are leaders on media issues.
Donaldson led the lawmakers through a broad spectrum of media issues, from the fallout created by the emergence of satellite radio to broadcasters' responsibilities on indecency.
But the discussion kept returning to the the impact of legislation that would set a date for the transition to digital would have on the public.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said within a few weeks he plans to introduce a bill that would set Dec. 31, 2006, as the date of transition. He also said he hopes to establish a fund to provide subsidies for people who couldn't afford the $35 to $55 cost of a set-top box that would convert the digital signal to an analog television.
Without such a box, millions of people's analog televisions would be rendered useless when the conversion occurs.
The conversion to digital is necessary to free up the analog spectrum to public safety agencies that need additional bandwidth to communicate in the field. The analog spectrum has been promised to public agencies and some commercial enterprises, only after digital television signals cover 85 percent of the U.S. marketplace.
The digital spectrum provides a wide variety of uses, from the delivery of multiple broadcast signals on one channel to the broadcast of crystal-clear widescreen pictures and state-of-the-art sound.
The Washington-based Consumer Electronics Association called on the Federal Communications Commission to delay implementation of rules designed to encourage the roll-out of digital television. The NAB on Monday issued a statement denouncing the CEA proposal.
But not everyone is in agreement with Barton's proposal, including other members of the panel.
"What's wrong with market forces (driving the conversion)?" asked Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. "Why would this have to be subsidized?"
Burns and others suggest that money raised by the auctioning of analog spectrum could go to other purposes and not applied to subsidies.
Rep. Michael Bilirakis, R-Fla., said digital conversion "is the top issue for the industry," but he said he hasn't heard much from industry leaders about their preferences. He said in his congressional district are thousands of citizens who are tied to their television sets and a conversion to digital could have devastating repercussions.
Bilirakis said the sale of spectrum could help pay for some of the public relations needed to explain the issue to consumers.
Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said he has a high percentage of Spanish-speaking residents in his district whom he would want to reach. He advocates extending the transition date to 2009.
Barton countered that existing law provides for handing off the analog spectrum and several agencies are clamoring for it.
"Why not set a hard date and make this country the best broadband nation in the world?" he asked. "We need to get on with the business of making it happen."
He later said he would be supportive of giving some states with geographic challenges extra time to convert. Engel also noted that much of New York's broadcast infrastructure was destroyed in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and that it would take several years to rebuild a tower to accommodate new towers for digital transmission.
Other issues discussed by the panel:
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