Senate Approves Digital Television Transition Plan

On Wednesday, the United States Senate voted 51-50 to approve the Budget Reconciliation conference report which includes the Digital Transition title. The conference report will now be returned to the House of Representatives for its consideration, as the Senate made technical changes unrelated to the Digital Television title. Under its revised budget reconciliation instruction, the Senate Commerce Committee saves $7.363 billion for deficit reduction in the next five years, and spectrum auctions are considered to be the most viable method within the Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction to recover this revenue. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that auctions will raise a total of $10 billion, though several independent reports estimate that the auction would raise more than $20 billion. The title also extends auction authority to September 30, 2011. The legislation establishes two specific dates that will advance the transition to a digital television (DTV) broadcast signal and improve public safety communications. First, the Act requires broadcasters to vacate the analog portion of the public spectrum by February 17, 2009. From that date forward, public safety personnel will have access to the 24 MHz of spectrum recovered in the transition. Second, the legislation requires the auction of recovered spectrum by January 28, 2008. http://commerce.senate.gov/newsroom/printable.cfm?id=250087
See coverage --
* Digital TV switch set for early 2009
http://news.com.com/Digital+TV+switch+set+for+early+2009/2100-1028_3-600...
* Senate Backs DTV Bill
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6293345?display=Breaking+News
* Senate OKs 2009 DTV Date
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10017...
* Senate backs digital TV transition plan
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...
* Senate Passes Bill to Convert to Digital TV
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/technology/22digital.html
* Congress sets 2009 deadline for digital TV
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/13462802....
* TV signals go digital Feb. 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051222/dtv22.art.htm