December 8, 2005 In December 2004, both houses of Congress approved resolutions promising themselves that they would work on speeding the transition to digital-only television broadcasting in the United States. A year later, both houses have passed digital television (DTV) bills as part of budget legislation. As representatives from both chambers go to conference to iron out differences in these bills, Benton offers a comparison of the bills and the potential wrinkles that could slow the legislation’s final approval. The bills aim to end analog TV broadcasts in 2009, auction off returned analog TV spectrum in the same year and earmark those revenues for deficit reduction and other purposes.
