Shapiro: Dems Fear-Mongering DTV Move
CEA President: Digital-TV Transition Won’t Be as Bad as Feared
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 3/26/2007 2:03:00 PM
The U.S. transition to digital television has become a partisan political issue, with Democrats engaged in “fear mongering” about the possible loss of analog-TV service by millions of American in early 2009, Consumer Electronics Association president Gary Shapiro said Monday.
“There is fear-mongering going on and, frankly, this has become a political issue. Democrats are saying that the Republicans didn’t give enough money, and Democrats are saying, ‘Well, we need more money,’” Shapiro said. “It is easy to go to government and say, ‘We need more money for something.’ But the question is, is it really needed?”
An estimated 20 million U.S. households rely exclusively on free TV. Pay TV and free TV households combined currently have about 73 million analog sets that would go dark if analog-TV service were terminated today rather than on the Feb. 17, 2009 date set by Congress last year. The law set aside up to $1.5 billion (including program costs) to subsidize consumer access to low-cost, digital-to-analog converter boxes.
Some House leaders, including Energy and Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), are concerned that a poorly executed, underfunded transition would cut off potentially millions of homes from free TV. Shapiro indicated that talk of a massive consumer TV cutoff was alarmist.
“The worst that will happen is that on that date, there will be a few Americans that’ll turn on a TV set, they won’t be able to get a signal and they’ll call somebody or they’ll turn on the radio or read a newspaper,” he added.
Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of media relations for the National Association of Broadcasters, said Shapiro’s suggestion that some consumers would be indifferent to the loss of free TV was inaccurate.
"According to the Nielsen [Media Research] rating service, the typical American home has a television set on for more than eight hours a day. It's just plain silly to suggest that there are many people clamoring to lose access to local TV signals,” Wharton added.
A CEA survey, Shapiro said, indicated that consumers would make informed decisions about making the move to digital. Some will buy digital-TV sets, some will obtain converter boxes and some will do nothing at all, he added.
“Others, frankly, don’t care. You know, not everyone really wants free over-the-air broadcasting in their home,” Shapiro said.
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