FCC Moves Up Goal for Digital TV

U.S. regulators Thursday took action to accelerate the transition to digital television by moving up the date by which all new mid-sized TV sets must be able to view the high-quality signals.

The Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted to move up by four months, to March 1, 2006, a deadline requiring digital reception by all television sets sold in the United States with 25-inch to 35-inch screens.

The Consumer Electronics Assn. had asked for the new deadline. But it also sought to delay next month’s deadline for half of mid-sized sets sold to be digital-ready, a request the FCC denied. July 1 is also the deadline for all new large sets to have digital tuners.

The agency also proposed moving up by at least six months the July 1, 2007, deadline by which all TVs sold with screens measuring at least 13 inches must be capable of receiving digital signals.

Congress and the FCC want Americans to rapidly adopt digital TV so the old, analog airwaves can be reclaimed and sold for billions of dollars to commercial wireless companies and public safety agencies. The Bush administration wants most of the money raised in that sale to help plug the federal budget deficit.

“We need to push the transition to its conclusion as expeditiously as possible,” FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy said at the FCC’s monthly open meeting.

In other news, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) aide Christine Kurth withdrew from consideration to fill a Republican seat on the FCC. Kurth, 34, withdrew because her husband is a lobbyist in the communications industry and either she would have to recuse herself from numerous issues or he probably would have to leave his job.