27 October - HDTV News from HDTV Magazine

[Scott]

This will be a daily news feed from HDTV Magazine. Feel free to pick a topic, start a new thread (with date and title of topic) and discuss.

[Scott]

DTV News for 10-27-2005

430 Days Until the Scheduled End of Analog Television Broadcasting (yeah, yeah)

DTV Station Status per FCC CDBS - Oct. 23, 2005

(TV Technology)

Article (http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1051)

All TV digital by end of 2008: panel

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved a measure ordering
the switch to higher-quality digital broadcasts be finished by the end of 2008,
setting up a clash with the Senate.

(Reuters)

Article (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-10-27T123115Z_01_RID744210_RTRUKOC_0_US-DIGITAL-TV.xml&archived=False)

House Committee OKs Digital TV Switch Bill

House lawmakers want all-digital TV broadcasts to kick in sooner than a Senate
bill requires, and they want to spend about a third less on the conversion.

(Associated Press via Fox News)

Article (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173637,00.html)

U.S. House panel backs end-2008 digital TV switch

(Reuters / Yahoo News)

Article (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2005-10-26T231922Z_01_SIB683893_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-CONGRESS-DIGITALTV-HOUSE-DC.XML&archived=False)

Article (http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=governmentFilingsNews&sto ryID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20051026:MTFH18245 _2005-10-26_22-03-01_WBT004123:1)

Article (http://au.news.yahoo.com/051026/11/wj5s.html)

Switch to digital polarizes lawmakers

The legislative battle over the switch to digital TV became a marker in Democratic
attempts to paint the GOP as a party beholden to the rich as liberal lawmakers
on Wednesday forced a string of party-line votes on a series of issues over the
move to turn off the current analog signal.

(Hollywood Reporter via Reuters / Yahoo News / Williston, SD Herald)

Article (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID=2005-10-27T062625Z_01_HAR723158_RTRIDST_0_INDUSTRY-DIGITAL-DC.XML)

Article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051027/media_nm/digital_dc_1)

Article (http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/stories/news-0091285.html)

Switch to digital polarizes pols [Paid Subscription Required for Complete Story
- or click above]

The legislative battle over the switch to digital TV became a marker in Democratic
attempts to paint the GOP as a party beholden to the rich as liberal lawmakers
on Wednesday forced a string of party-line votes on a series of issues over the
move to turn off the current analog signal.

(Hollywood Reporter)

Article (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001390834)

Your TV Could Go Dark In 2009

Congress tries to figure out how much federal help people should get when the
way tv signals are broadcasted changes.

(Reuters via WFMY Greensboro, NC)

Article (http://www.wfmynews2.com/2wtk/article.aspx?storyid=50825)

House votes to give out $40 coupons to convert analog TVs

(USA Today)

Article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20051027/tc_usatoday/housevotestogiveout40couponstoconvertanalogtvs)

House Panel Nixes Set-Top Subsidy

The House Energy and Commerce Committee rejected a Democratic-sponsored proposal
to provide an estimated $3.5 million to subsidize set-tops for analog-TV sets.

(Multichannel News)

Article (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6277974.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP )

House Committee Approves Date for DTV Transition Deadline

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation late Wednesday that
would set the deadline for the digital TV transition at Dec. 31, 2008, and provide
up to $990 million to subsidize digital-to-analog converter boxes for analog-only
sets.

(TelevisionWeek)

Article (http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8794)

House Panel Rejects Generous DTV Converter Subsidy

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 28-21 along party lines Wednesday
to reject a package of legislative amendments by committee Democrats that would
have provided whatever it cost -- estimated by Democrats to be up to $4 billion
-- to subsidize the acquisition of digital-to-analog converter boxes for all
73 million analog-only TV sets in the United States.

(TelevisionWeek)

Article (http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8792)

House Commerce Approves DTV Bill [Paid Subscription Required]

By a vote of 33 to 17, the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday approved
a bill to set a DTV transition hard date of Jan. 1, 2009, and provide $990 million
for digital-to-analog converters.

(Broadcasting & Cable)

Article (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6277864.html?display=Breaking+News)

April 7, 2009--End of Analog TV?

(TV Technology)

Article (http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1041)

Border Stations Don't Get DTV Waiver [Paid Subscription Required]

Texas Republican Rep. Charles Gonzalez withdrew an amendment Wednesday that would
have given U.S. TV stations within 50 miles of the Mexican border until 2015
to make the transition from analog to digital--the national hard date is expected
to be in 2009.

(Broadcasting & Cable)

Article (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6277960.html?display=Breaking+News)

House panel gives New York $30 million for TV transition

(New York, NY Newsday)

Article (http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-bc-ny--digitaltv-freedom1026oct26,0,6834309.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlines)

NY DTVs Could Get $30 Million [Paid Subscription Required]

The House Commerce Committee has approved an amendment, introduced by Eliot Engel
(D-N.Y.) and two other New York reps, to give New York TV stations $30 million
to help them make the 2009 hard date of converting to digital.

(Broadcasting & Cable)

Article (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6277949.html?display=Breaking+News)

Barrett Promotes Telco/Broadcast Partnership [Paid Subscription Required]

In a speech to the U.S. Telecom Association in Las Vegas Tuesday, Hearst-Argyle
CEO David Barrett said that broadcasters will welcome telcos into the TV family,
particularly if they will help them secure mandatory multichannel video carriage
of their multicast DTV signals.

(Broadcasting & Cable)

Article (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6277886.html?display=Breaking+News)

Commerce Delays Considering Broadcast Flag [Paid Subscription Required]

Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) said he would work with Rep.
Mary Bono (R-Calif.) and others on the issue of codifying the broadcast flag
in the context of a "fair use" bill.

(Broadcasting & Cable)

Article (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6277941.html?display=Breaking+News)

FCC Wants Appeals Court to Toss Disney Request on Kids Rules

The Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals
in Washington to throw out a request by The Walt Disney Co. seeking a stay of
the agency's new children's TV rules or an order forcing the agency to act by
Nov. 15 on a series of long-pending industry petitions urging the agency to dramatically
ease the regulations.

(TelevisionWeek)

Article (http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8793)

FCC Defends Kids Rules [Paid Subscription Required]

The FCC has asked the D.C. Circuit to reject Disney's writ of mandamus regarding
the commissions digital children's TV rules.

(Broadcasting & Cable)

Article (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6277761.html?display=Breaking+News)

Retail channel makes push for LCD TVs, says DisplaySearch

(DigiTimes)

Article (http://www.digitimes.com/displays/a20051027PR203.html)

LCD TVs Boost Sharp Overseas CE Biz Sales 4.1%

Osaka, Japan — Sales of LCD color televisions increased 40.2 percent in
the fiscal first half at Sharp, rising to $1.6 billion, from $1.1 billion in
the year-ago period. At the same time, overseas sales in Sharp’s audio/visual
and communication equipment product group, which includes LCD TVs and other consumer
electronics, rose 4.1 percent to $1.6 billion from a year-earlier $1.5 billion.

(This Week in Consumer Electronics)

Article (http://www.twice.com/article/CA6277778?display=Breaking+News)

A Great Projector At An Even Better Price

Home-theater projectors, like their television-set brothers, live in a ruthless
world. They're king of the world one minute, and next thing you know, it's over.

(Hartford, CT Courant)

Article (http://www.courant.com/technology/hc-hunt1028.artoct28,0,88595.column?coll=hc-utility-technology)