NAB wants digital tuners sooner

On Wednesday, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) asked the FCC to consider moving up the deadline date for digital tuner mandates. Currently, digital tuners will be required in all sets by July of 2007. The NAB is asking for the mandate to be effective in late 2006.

Opposite the NAB is the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The CEA believes that lower-income families with analog-only sets will suffer. There has even been some discussion from the CEA around government subsidies for digital converter sets. The converters would allow analog sets to receive and display digital signals, but I'm not a fan of the government subsidy approach.

Truth-be-told, we've known about the digital transmission conversion for ten years, so I'm not too sympathetic to folks who cry "foul!" here in the home-stretch. However, I wouldn't want to see anyone's television stop receiving a signal, either. Some people don't have the means to purchase a new digital set; instead, they will keep their analog set for years to come.

If we could get just a small percentage of television advertising revenue to help pay for converter boxes, we could get over the hump on our transition. The estimated cost of such a converter is around $50.
Is that too much out of pocket for the networks and sponsors to pay?

Sure, it's a radical idea, but all of the money in broadcasting is in the advertising revenue. I'd think that companies that advertise on television would have a vested interest in keeping their "audience". I
don't have that vested interest, so I'm not a fan of my tax dollars subsidizing that audience.

Hey, if we go with a government subsidy on the converter, I won't lose any sleep. In fact, I'll be happy for the folks that can join the digital television world. I just don't think it's the best answer.

Got a better plan for the estimated 80 million analog sets? Let us know!