FCC Seeks to Pressure TV Stations to Go Digital

A top federal regulator today will urge Congress to force station owners to speed the transition to digital television, even though consumers have been slow to buy the expensive digital TV sets.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman William E. Kennard wants Congress to force broadcasters to adopt digital technology more quickly--fearing that they will use a loophole to extend their control of extra airwaves far beyond a 2006 deadline.

Kennard accused broadcasters of “spectrum squatting,” in which they are controlling billions of dollars of air waves but not using it as Congress intended for digital broadcasts.

Kennard will make his remarks in a strongly worded speech to be delivered at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York.

Digital television can provide distortion-free pictures and compact-disc quality sound as well as transmit computer files, graphics and other data at speeds 500 times as fast as today’s analog computer modems. But fewer than 1% of television owners have paid the average cost of $3,000 for a digital TV set.

In April 1997, the FCC approved a plan to award digital TV licenses to each of the nation’s 1,600 television station owners so they could provide razor-sharp digital video images.

TV station owners now have two channels--one in digital and the other in conventional analog format--so consumers can watch either conventional analog shows or digital programs where available.

Under the current federal timetable, a TV station must return its analog channel to the government by 2006, or when digital television penetration reaches 85% of the station’s coverage area, whichever is later.

But Kennard wants Congress to impose a “spectrum-squatters’ fee” on broadcasters who don’t make the transition to digital TV by 2006.

Kennard also wants Congress to lower the 85% market threshold that triggers the requirement that station owners to return current channels to the government--for possible resale for wireless services--and exclusively use their digital channels to air programming.

Some critics believe most broadcasters are dragging their feet on digital TV in hopes of using their new digital airwaves as leverage in their fight with cable TV, satellite TV and other video providers competing for viewers’ attention.

“The broadcasters never intended to go digital. They are just holding this spectrum hostage as part of their campaign to cut a better deal with cable operators,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Media Education, a Washington media watchdog group.

Chester said broadcasters have no economic incentive to spend millions of dollars to shift to digital technology while their viewing audience is dropping and advertisers are feeling out newer media such as cable TV and the Internet. But Chester added that the FCC, Congress and the White House are all equally culpable in creating the digital TV morass.

Kennard is also calling for lawmakers to require that all new TV sets be capable of receiving digital TV signals within two years.

“One of the best ways broadcasters could enhance . . . the public interest in this digital era is by speeding up the transition to [digital TV],” Kennard said in a draft copy of his speech. “I have no doubt that this practice of spectrum-squatting makes excellent business sense for the broadcasters, but in terms of the public interest it is highly counter-productive. Squatting on empty spectrum smothers innovation and endangers America’s lead in new technologies.”

Last week, Kennard criticized the NBC and Fox television networks for failing to meet their obligation to the public to carry the first presidential debate, and said the FCC will hold a meeting next week to explore any further steps the agency might take to speed adoption of digital TV.

But broadcasters are far from universally supportive of digital TV. CBS has enthusiastically embraced the technology and began airing much of their schedule in the digital format. Others such as Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the owner of 29 television stations nationwide, has criticized digital TV technology in the U.S. as flawed and has urged the FCC to adopt an allegedly less interference-prone digital TV standard used in Europe.

In many of the nation’s largest television markets, including Los Angeles, the transition to digital is already underway.

John Rierdon, general manager of KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, said his station has spent millions of dollars to erect a digital TV transmitter, buy digital equipment and air digital programming. But he said it is hard to jump-start the digital TV market without some consumer support.

“You can’t legislate this sort of thing; it’s a consumer-driven market and until digital television sets penetrate more into the market” acceptance will remain limited, he said.

KTLA is owned by Tribune Co., owner of The Times.