Scott
10-27-2005, 01:12 PM
Taken from October 27 HDTV Mag. news feed:
The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill Wednesday to set aside $990 million to defray consumer costs in the nation's switch to digital TV, a sum Democrats called inadequate.
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The bill, approved by a 33-17 vote, also would require TV stations to start broadcasting in digital only on Jan. 1, 2009. A measure passed by the Senate Commerce Committee last week would set an April 7, 2007, analog cutoff deadline and a $3 billion consumer subsidy. The two bills must be reconciled before digital TV legislation can pass.
The $990 million in the House bill would help keep analog TVs that rely on antennas from going black once the transition ends. The money would fund coupons to pay $40 toward the cost of a box to convert digital signals to analog. Lawmakers estimate each box would cost about $60, forcing consumers to shell out about $20.
But while the program provides two coupons per household, consumers would have to request them. That requirement was included to limit the number of people who get coupons and thus the cost of the subsidy.
Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Barton (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, says the program is aimed largely at low- to moderate-income people who don't subscribe to cable or satellite. Pay-TV providers plan to convert digital signals to analog for their subscribers.
"The assumption is that households that don't need the coupons won't ask for them," Barton says.
But Democrats say making the coupon hard to obtain will unfairly restrict them. Every American, they say, is entitled to a coupon.
"There's no reason for consumers to pay" a "TV tax," says Rep. Lois Capps (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. "It's not their fault." Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., says the requirement to request a coupon would especially hurt some poor, minority and elderly people who aren't aware of the program.
An estimated 73 million analog TVs in the USA aren't hooked to cable or satellite. Those include sets in the up to 20 million homes that don't have pay TV, as well as second or third sets in cable and satellite households.
Under the Senate proposal, two $40 coupons automatically would be sent to each home. The money for the boxes would come from an auction of analog airwaves, which TV stations would return once they start broadcasting in digital only. Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., says the $10 billion in projected auction proceeds more than pays for a full subsidy. But Republicans say higher-income citizens don't need the handout and that the auction money should be used to narrow the federal deficit.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill Wednesday to set aside $990 million to defray consumer costs in the nation's switch to digital TV, a sum Democrats called inadequate.
ADVERTISEMENT
The bill, approved by a 33-17 vote, also would require TV stations to start broadcasting in digital only on Jan. 1, 2009. A measure passed by the Senate Commerce Committee last week would set an April 7, 2007, analog cutoff deadline and a $3 billion consumer subsidy. The two bills must be reconciled before digital TV legislation can pass.
The $990 million in the House bill would help keep analog TVs that rely on antennas from going black once the transition ends. The money would fund coupons to pay $40 toward the cost of a box to convert digital signals to analog. Lawmakers estimate each box would cost about $60, forcing consumers to shell out about $20.
But while the program provides two coupons per household, consumers would have to request them. That requirement was included to limit the number of people who get coupons and thus the cost of the subsidy.
Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Barton (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, says the program is aimed largely at low- to moderate-income people who don't subscribe to cable or satellite. Pay-TV providers plan to convert digital signals to analog for their subscribers.
"The assumption is that households that don't need the coupons won't ask for them," Barton says.
But Democrats say making the coupon hard to obtain will unfairly restrict them. Every American, they say, is entitled to a coupon.
"There's no reason for consumers to pay" a "TV tax," says Rep. Lois Capps (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. "It's not their fault." Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., says the requirement to request a coupon would especially hurt some poor, minority and elderly people who aren't aware of the program.
An estimated 73 million analog TVs in the USA aren't hooked to cable or satellite. Those include sets in the up to 20 million homes that don't have pay TV, as well as second or third sets in cable and satellite households.
Under the Senate proposal, two $40 coupons automatically would be sent to each home. The money for the boxes would come from an auction of analog airwaves, which TV stations would return once they start broadcasting in digital only. Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., says the $10 billion in projected auction proceeds more than pays for a full subsidy. But Republicans say higher-income citizens don't need the handout and that the auction money should be used to narrow the federal deficit.