According to the Consumer Electronics Association, more than 50 percent of U.S. households now own a digital television — a milestone that the industry trade group’s president Gary Shapiro characterized as a “critical threshold” for the nation.
What’s more, an additional 32 million DTVs are now forecast to ship nationally during 2008, “with high definition expected to account for 79 percent of total DTV shipments in the U.S.,” Shapiro explained.
However, the U.S. government’s General Accountability Office (GAO) recently warned that no comprehensive plan is in place for tracking or measuring transition milestones. Having no plan raises concerns about whether consumers will have the information necessary to respond to the transition and to maintain access to TV programming, the GAO said.
“Only the FCC appears to be in a state of denial over what the GAO is telling us,” FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein noted. “Rather than making excuses, we need to come up with solutions,” including the establishment of an interagency task force, Adelstein said.
The Hour Is Late
A comprehensive partnership between the public sector and the private sector should have accountability, clear lines of authority, and daily coordination at the highest levels, noted FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. “I agree with GAO that the FCC is in the best position to get the job done,” Copps said. “But the hour is late — very late.”
Digital-to-analog conversion capabilities are included in all set-top boxes for cable and satellite TV reception — the preferred reception mode used by 87 percent of U.S. households, which will be able to continue to view broadcast programming on analog TVs after the transition to digital. But the remaining 13 percent of U.S. households will not be so lucky.
These over-the-air reception households disproportionately represent low-income workers, the elderly, and minorities — particularly those for whom English is a second…