FCC Commissioners Express DTV Deadline Concerns to Congress

January 23, 2009

By Mike Peters

In a letter to Congress, FCC commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein expressed concerns about the nation's readiness for the DTV transition on February 17. When the federally mandated transition takes place, consumers with analog television sets who do not subscribe to a pay television service, such as cable or satellite, or have a digital convert box will no longer be able to receive the new all-digital signals. This could leave millions of Americans with no television service.

FCC Commissioners Cite Inadequacies Concerning DTV Transition

Commissioners Copps and Adelstein cited inadequate coordination between the FCC and the public and private sectors - particularly with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) - that has had a negative impact on public education. They were also concerned about the stalled converter box coupon program which was implemented to provide discounts on the cost of the boxes.

The Commissioners also addressed inadequate consumer education and support. In their view, the public has a general awareness of the transition, but has not received enough information to understand how the transition will affect them personally, and what steps they must take to prepare. They feel there has been inadequate attention given to key issues that consumers face - such as reception and antenna problems when the transition occurs - and the possible loss of TV service. Also, closed captioning issues have not been resolved and it is unclear whether deaf and hearing-impaired viewers will be able to receive the captioning through the new digital broadcasts.

FCC Call Centers Not Ready for High Volume of DTV Transition Calls for Help

Commissioners Copps and Adelstein also questioned the readiness of the FCC call centers to handle the expected onslaught of phone calls when the transition goes into effect. It is believed the call centers should be able to handle up to 350,000 consumer calls per day; however, it is estimated there could be millions of calls when the transition takes place.

The Commissioners stated that if a delay in the DTV transition is approved, the additional time must be spent in aggressively addressing these issues in order to reduce to a minimum the number of consumers who will be adversely affected.