FCC Sets Timetable for HDTV Testing

The Federal Communications Commission, under the gun to keep the United States in the race with Japan and Europe to develop the next generation of television, announced an “ambitious but realistic” test schedule Wednesday to select a U.S. high-definition TV standard by mid-1993.

The FCC said six applicants, including the Japan Broadcasting Corp. and Europe’s major TV manufacturers, will be in the running for the coveted HDTV standard, which will be the sole format to be used to provide Americans with HDTV’s crystal-clear pictures and compact disc-quality sound by cable, satellite and the major commercial networks.

Backers of HDTV say it could revitalize a lagging U.S. electronics industry and--through military, educational and medical spinoffs--be the linchpin for U.S. economic growth in the next century.

Testing will begin April 8 at an Advanced Television Test Center in a Washington suburb. Testing will run for about two months for each proposal. Viewer testing of the proposals will follow in Canada, along with field testing here.

The FCC’s Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service is to recommend a winning format to the FCC by September, 1992. The commission is scheduled to announce a standard by June, 1993.

To prevent making millions of TVs obsolete, the commission already has said the winning HDTV system must use a “simulcast” technique in which a TV station will broadcast two signals: one on its regularly assigned channel in today’s format, known as NTSC; the other in high-definition on a separate channel.