FCC Urged to Fund Local Group for DTV Education
The FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee on the digital transition wants the agency to set up a special fund to finance community groups’ DTV educational efforts, former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani said. The committee, to which Tristani belongs, wants money for DTV outreach by local groups, she told local telecom franchising authorities in Washington.
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U.S. agencies and others have done a good job promoting the transition, but much needs to be done to get “details out to the public,” Tristani told a National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors meeting. Those with Internet access will find DTV issues easy to resolve, but not those who aren’t online, she said. She cited a 15-minute wait she endured when calling FCC’s DTV phone help line. A call to NTIA also landed her on hold for a quarter-hour before a human answered.
Tristani’s anxiety about DTV education arises from such facts as the NTIA coupon uptake data for states failing to break down how many households rely solely on broadcast TV. That’s “very critical” information for local governments, she said. Many Americans with impaired hearing will find transition a “nightmare” due to captioning issues, she said. And local governments may face waste streams clogged with junked analog sets, she added. Another issue is the extra cost of digital set-top boxes if a cable company goes all digital, she said.
Digital buildouts have been done by 1,000 of the more than 1,800 full power stations, said Eloise Gore, associate chief of the Media Bureau. That leaves about 700 “with something more to do,” she said. About 500 of them are changing channels, meaning people in some communities may not get signals from all the full power digital stations now. An FCC video in production and to be offered to communities will show how to connect a converter box, Gore said.
The issue of converter box use in public housing came up. Public housing residents get signals from satellite master antenna systems, a local government official said, asking where boxes must be placed. To address that matter the FCC is trying to work with trade groups representing private cable operators, which don’t have franchises, Gore said.