Senate to Hear Update on Switch to Digital TV

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to review a Government Accountability Office report questioning the ability of a federal agency, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, to manage its part of the digital television transition. The agency oversees the distribution of discount coupons for the converter boxes, which make it possible for older TVs to receive over-the-air digital signals. A test in Wilmington, N.C., of the coming nationwide switch of over-the-air TV signals to digital from analog went well, but some politicians are worried that the rest of the country's transition will not go as smoothly and that many people will find themselves with no TV signal. Kevin J. Martin, the Federal Communications Commission chairman, is scheduled to appear at the hearing. In a statement to the House committee, he said, that "with the national transition about five months away, much remains to be done."