Benton's Communication Policy &Practice

President's Advisory Committee on
Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters

Introduction | Members | Recent Activity | How to Participate | Related Websites
In Executive Order No. 13038, President Clinton established the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters (PIAC). The Committee will study and recommend what public interest responsibilities should accompany digital television licenses. These decisions need national attention and should include the input of broadcasters, government leaders, public interest groups, and the American public. We need to define what "in the public interest" means in the digital age -- and where it can take us.

On April 3, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that will forever change free, over-the-air broadcast television, a service available in nearly every home in the nation. The aim of the transition is to create a new broadcast system providing broadcasters with additional revenue streams so that they can remain competitive with cable and satellite video services. Broadcastersâ new revenue streams will presumably support free, over-the-air programming into the next century. But the transition will come with costs. Broadcast stations will have to spend millions to buy digital transmission equipment. And consumers must choose between new, expensive digital TV sets or converter boxes to be able to pick up the new signals. Initially, digital TV sets will retail at near $5,000. And there's bound to be some confusion as the consumer electronics and computer industries vie to become the dominate entertainment and information device in American living rooms.

The new FCC rules do not answer the central question: How will digital television serve the public interest? At stake in this debate is how television, arguably the most powerful medium of the 20th Century, can contribute to the 21st Century.

Recent Committee Activity

The final report of the Advisory Committee and additional materials are available on the PIAC Legacy Project homepage.

Eighth Meeting

Seventh Meeting

Sixth Meeting

Fifth Meeting

Research Submitted Proposals Submitted

Fourth Meeting

Third Meeting

Second Meeting

First Meeting

Set-Up

How to Participate

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Committee's Offical Web Page
(Operated by NTIA) Committee information, meeting minutes, and documents produced by the Committee are available by calling 202-501-6195, or by written request to:

Karen Edwards
Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters
NTIA - Room 4716
Department of Commerce
Washington, DC 20230

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Last updated: 10 November 1998 kjt