Adelstein Pushes for More DTV Education; Industry Agrees

NTIA is “looking at all aspects of this [DTV] program that we've been mandated to do,” said a spokesman. It has an additional $100 million budget for administrative costs related to the digital transition, he said. The agency declined comment on Adelstein’s remarks.

Adelstein’s main message to firms was to do more - including spending more - well before Feb. 19, 2009, when analog cuts off. “We need to bring everyone along in the DTV transition… We need to make consumers know how it impacts their lives,” he told several hundred executives. Speaking with us later, he said: “It’s going to take a much bigger effort over the years. A lot of the resources will come from the private sector.” Adelstein told his audience that efforts should include broadcast and cable public service announcements. Tribal govt. and municipal officials must play roles, and poor communities shouldn’t be excluded, Adelstein said.

There’s plenty of reason to be encouraged that companies and govt. will collaborate, Adelstein said. He noted a label that CEA said electronic makers will put on sets with analog tuners and the boxes they come in. The consumer advisory reads, in part: “This TV has only an ‘analog’ broadcast tuner so [it] will require a converter box after February 17, 2009, to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna.” Adelstein called the label “key [to] educating consumers.” But the effort won’t stop with the label, said CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro. “Our job is not yet done” he said in a written statement. CEA predicts DTV units will outsell analog sets in 2006, with 18 million plus devices bought in the U.S. this year.

Adelstein’s remarks resonated among speakers on a panel after his speech. Speaking of the NTIA DTV budget, former FCC DTV Task Force Chmn. Rick Chessen called the $5 million war chest “a drop in the bucket.” Broadcasters “ought to take the lead on reaching out to people,” said Chessen, now with the law firm Sheppard Mullin. Circuit City has sent signs to its stores to ballyhoo the transition - but that’s not much use to those who aren’t buying TVs, said Chmn. Alan McCollough. “The much larger problem is folks who are not in the market for a television set,” he said. Another cause for concern: penny-wise, pound-foolish buyers snapping up sets at what Adelstein called “bargain basement prices.”

Consumer education can only do so much, and broadcasters can motivate consumers to buy DTV technology by providing more digital content in short order, said McCollough. NBC already broadcasts prime time dramas in widescreen format, he said: “The answer here is let’s start broadcasting widescreen digital as soon as possible… It needs to be all widescreen, all the time.” A public education campaign should promote DTV benefits such as HD and the ability to receive broadcasters’ multicast signals, said John Taylor, LG Electronics vp-public affairs & communications. Panelists’ opinions were split on whether further govt. involvement is needed, with the strongest support coming from Ion Media Networks CEO Brandon Burgess. Without legislative action, the transition date may be delayed, said the former NBC Universal executive. -- Jonathan Make, Josh Wein

CEA Summit Notebook…

Amazon.com and BellSouth officials butted heads over net neutrality at the CEA’s entertainment technology summit Wed. Despite the telco’s commitment to the CEA to foster device innovation, Amazon Vp-Global Policy Paul Misener raised concerns that telcos will stifle innovation in providing IPTV as they upgrade their networks. Without network neutrality, proposed legislation on national video franchising “would lock in 2 competitors and lock out all other competition,” Misener said. BellSouth downplayed any plans for providing IPTV service, stressing that its ultimate goal is increasing the number of Americans with broadband connections. But the telco is looking for ways to charge Internet content providers for carriage. “One thing we might do is say: ‘You can chip in a few bucks so we can cut out prices to result in a cheaper broadband offer to consumers,” said Jonathan Banks, BellSouth federal regulatory vp. That worries observers such as Panasonic’s Paul Lioa, who expressed his hopes that consumers and content providers retain unmetered access to the Internet: “If we move away from those principals of the Internet, we'll violate some basic fundamentals.”

--

Tex.’s video franchising law isn’t the best model for the federal govt. to adopt, said Mike McKeehan, Verizon dir.- Internet & technology policy, at Wed.’s CEA summit on entertainment technology. McKeehan shared the stage with representatives of AT&T and NTCA, and Capitol Hill aides. “To us, the local cable franchise authority is an impediment to the entrant of a new competitor,” said Michael Sullivan, aide to Sen. Ensign (R-Nev.). Dorothy Attwood of AT&T said barriers to competition need to be removed as telcos venture into cable-like TV services. “There were no barriers for [cable and VoIP] carriers to get into voice,” she said.