Fee Would Make Digital Shift Less Taxing

[Commentary] February 2009 marks the end of analog TV in the US; TV households have three options: 1) own a digital TV set, 2) purchase converter boxes enabling their old sets to receive digital signals, or 3) subscribe to cable or satellite TV service. In that last case, the set-top box will act as their converter. That’s a lot of potential hookups for pay TV providers. If DirecTV somehow managed to sign up all these over-the-air households, it would essentially double its customer base. But the ~15% of households that don't subscribe to TV services now probably won't or can't start paying $50/month for TV starting in 2009. For these households, Congress is setting aside $1.5 billion to subsidize their purchase of digital-to-analog converters so that their current TVs continue to work. But that's not as much as will be needed to convert all over-the-air households. If those purchasing the spectrum aren't even indirectly going to underwrite the full cost of the conversion, who should? ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox? It’s their viewers that would go dark. But don't count on it. At least until the government money gives out. What then? Try the manufacturers. They’re getting a real bonanza: A federally mandated conversion to digital equipment, with a hard deadline. So, here’s a private-industry solution, borrowing conceptually from the way governments bring in revenue. Tax digital-TV sets to pay for converter boxes for the dispossessed. A 3.5% fee on new digital TV sets could raise another $3 billion for converter box subsidies. “The idea has a lot of merit," said policy analyst Kenneth DeGraff of Consumers Union. “That solves the problem going down the road. That’s it."
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6295515.html?display=Opinion
(requires subscription)