The Honorable William E. Kennard
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St., S.W.
Washington, DC 20554

Dear Chairman Kennard:

Last December the Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of the Digital Television Broadcasters (Advisory committee) issued its report, Charting the Digital Broadcasting Future. The Advisory Committee undertook an in-depth study of the public interest obligations or broadcasters, detailing the many ways that America's broadcasters serve their local communities and the public at large, and the valuable public service that they provide this nation.

The Advisory Committee unanimously agreed that broadcasters' current contribution to the public interest is so essential that its continuation into the digital broadcasting must be secured. President Clinton and I believe that the Advisory Committee report is the first step toward identifying tangible ways for broadcasters to discharge their public interest obligations in the digital era.

Consistent with Section 336(d) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) should take the next critical step: examining how broadcasters can fulfill their obligation to serve the public interest. Because of the critical importance of television to our nation, we believe that Americans should have the opportunity to participate in the process, we urge the Commission to institute a public proceeding to consider the public interest obligations of digital television broadcasters.

As you know, television broadcasters were allocated additional spectrum for the conversion to digital television. In granting broadcasters this digital spectrum, the Administration recognized the broadcast industry's unique contribution to the American people, providing informational and public affairs programming or sponsoring educational and public safety initiatives for example.

With this letter, I urge you to begin by addressing the following four issues in public proceedings: the need for higher quality political discourse, disaster warnings in the digital age, disability access to digital programming, and diversity in broadcasting.

Improving the quality of political discourse
The President and I have long been concerned about the high cost of political campaigns in this country. We have sought ways to revamp the role of television in campaigns, to help ensure that all candidates have an opportunity to use the airwaves and more generally to improve the quality of political discourse. The Advisory Committee report includes some innovative proposals for achieving these goals as part of broadcasters' obligations to serve the public interest that we urge the Commission to review. At the very least, however, we believe the Commission should seriously consider the Advisory Committee's recommendations that broadcasters should be encouraged to voluntarily provide five minutes each night for candidate-centered discourse in the thirty days before an election and that blanket bans on the sale of air time to all state and local political candidates should be prohibited. In addition, we believe the American people and our democratic system could greatly benefit from some of the proposals outlined in the report of the Working Group on Minimum Public Interest Standards—proposals that would require broadcasters to set aside programming time for key political races. I urge you to evaluate to what extent the broadcasters are meeting voluntary commitments to improving the public discourse on the airwaves, including free air time.

Disaster warnings in the digital age
In 1998, the National Partnership on Reinventing Government organized an informal, multi-agency working group to identify ways to give Americans better, faster, and more effective disaster warnings. The Administrations' concerns about providing early warnings of potential disasters to every American date back to 1994 and the devastation wrought by violent storms and tornadoes in Alabama. We are, therefore intrigued by the Advisory Committee's suggestion that broadcasters, as part of their public interest obligations, could help warn Americans who are at risk. Specifically, the Advisory Committee recommends that broadcasters, emergency communication specialists, and manufacturers work with federal agencies to determine the most effective means to use the flexibility of digital technology to make disaster warnings more precise and to warn individuals who have hearing and vision disabilities. We believe the Commission, perhaps in conjunction with the National Partnership, could spearhead this collaborative effort to identify ways to refine our hazard warning network.

Disability access to digital programming
The Administration believes that all Americans, including those with hearing and vision disabilities, should have access to digital programming an all the innovative services that broadcasters may offer in the future. The Committee's specific recommendations, which would gradually expand broadcasters' obligations to provide closed captioning and video description, appear to strike a balance between serving the needs of Americans with disabilities and not imposing undue burdens on broadcasters. We urge the Commission both as part of its public interest inquiry and as a follow-up to its mandate under Section 305 of Telecommunications Act to explore the Committee's recommendations and to solicit other workable proposals.

Diversity in broadcasting
The Administration wants to underscore the critical importance of programming, employment, and ownership diversity in broadcasting. The Advisory Committee's Working Group on Minimum Public Interest Standards for digital television stations recommended that the Commission establish rules that would help ensure non-discrimination in employment in the broadcast industry. The Administration deeply values the goal of broadcast diversity and has supported policies that would increase opportunities for minorities, women and small businesses to participate fully. We know that you share these concerns, and we encourage the Commission to develop new methods of increasing opportunities for and participation by minorities, women and small businesses. We also urge you to redouble your efforts to work with the broadcast industry to ensure effective participation by minorities and women.

An increasing number of Americans will soon have access to digital signals. Therefore, how digital broadcasters will discharge their obligations to the American public is a critical and timely question. We urge the Commission to work with the broadcast industry and public interest community to provide clear guidance to broadcasters.

Sincerely,
Al Gore

cc:
Commissioner Susan Ness
Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth
Commissioner Michael Powell
Commissioner Gloria Tristani

www.benton.org/PIAC/vpltr.html
Posted 10/27/99