Benton RSS Feed

* For more info on the transition see "Getting to February 2009: Implementing the Digital TV Transition"
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1257

AMERICANS UNAWARE OF DIGITAL TV SWITCH
[SOURCE: TVPredictions.com, AUTHOR: Phillip Swann]
On February 17, 2009, all TV stations must switch their analog signals to digital. At that time, viewers will be unable to watch television unless they buy a Digital TV; subscribe to a cable or satellite service; or get a converter box that will allow their old analog sets to display the digital signals. But millions of Americans are unaware of the transition according to a survey by the Association of Public Television Stations. The APTS asked people who now receive their TV signals over the air if they know that the nation will switch from analog to digital TV signals on February 17, 2009. Sixty-one percent said they had no idea the transition was taking place while 10 percent said they had limited awareness and another 25 percent said they were somewhat aware or very aware. The APTS says an estimated 21 million homes now get their signals over the air. The group says it will urge Congress to increase funding to educate Americans about the switch.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/aptv020307.htm

* APTS Survey Demonstrates Need for DTV Consumer Outreach
http://www.apts.org/news/DTVSURVEY.cfm
http://www.apts.org/

COURT CASE THREATENS DIGITAL-TV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy group in Washington D.C., is trying to get the courts to strike down the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 signed by President Bush Feb. 8, 2006. The DRA -- passed without a single Democratic vote in the House -- included provisions governing the analog-TV cutoff. Public Citizen’s argument isn't that the mechanics of the digital-TV transition were unconstitutional. Instead, it claimed that the analog cutoff is unconstitutional because it was included in a law that was enacted unconstitutionally in violation of Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution -- language that requires the House and Senate to pass identical bills, also called the bicameral-passage requirement. “The DRA was presented to the president in violation of that requirement: The Senate passed one version of a bill, the House another, and then the Senate’s version was presented to the president, who signed it. Under the Constitution, that bill has not become a law,” Public Citizen said in an October 2006 court brief. On Feb. 9 when a three judge-panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments on whether the inconsistency should invalidate the law that called for the demise of analog-TV service.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6413076.html?display=Breaking+News

VIEWERS MUST CHIP IN FOR DTV CONVERTERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Telecommunications and Information Association Director John Kneuer, appearing on C-SPAN's The Communicators," said government subsidies will not cover the full costs for digital-to-analog set-top boxes. Viewers of analog-only sets will be required to buy the boxes if they want to watch TV on those sets after Feb. 17, 2009, which will be only 28 days after our next President is sworn in. Assistant Secretary Kneuer said he was limited in what he could say about the rules the NTIA is developing for the set-top box subsidy program, but when asked whether there would be a means test, he suggested there may not be. "You build a record and you look at that record," he said. "In this case we have a fairly broad consensus in the record that while trying to be fiscally responsible and not wanting to fund luxury consumer electronics equipment there is a broad sense that there is very broad cross-section of Americans that are going to be impacted by this and that to the extent possible, they should be eligible." Asked about comments in the trade press that the transition was analogous to Y2K and whether or not there was a plan B, Asst Sec Kneuer said he wasn't going to second-guess Congress adding that NTIA is putting in place a way to track and record the transition "as it takes place" so it can identify problems. He said NTIA will have an opportunity if it identifies transient problems to take corrective action by taking that information to Congress. Kneuer said he would seek corrective changes from Congress if need be, but hasn't had the need to so thus far.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6413194.html?display=Breaking...

* Digital TV Chief: Converter Boxes Will Not Be Free
http://www.tvpredictions.com/dtv020307.htm

RELIGIOUS GROUP CONTINUES FIGHT FOR DIGITAL MUST-CARRY RULES
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The head of a Christian broadcasting association has filed fresh comments with the Federal Communications Commission calling for the agency to make cable services carry all multicast TV signals broadcast in the area. "The single most important issue facing all independently owned stations is multicast must-carry/anti-stripping," Bob D'Andrea, President of the Christian Television Network (CTN), wrote to the FCC. "Without multicast must-carry/anti-stripping in digital television, smaller stations will struggle and local viewers may eventually lose access to valuable community oriented programs." Much of D'Andrea's January 16th filing comes from comments he made at the FCC's recent hearing on media ownership issues in Nashville, Tennessee. CTN's president argues that 1) "Anti-stripping" rules -- prohibitions against cable companies cherry picking which signals to carry -- are embedded in the 1992 Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. "The anti-stripping concept is merely an extension of existing law," D'Andrea writes. 2) Must carry will create a more level playing field for smaller broadcasters. D'Andrea describes the digital TV future as one dominated by "a few ultra large cable companies" that will "carry all the programming and will dictate to customers what they will watch" unless the FCC acts on this issue. 3) The programming offered by the Religious Voices in Broadcasting (RVB) network represents a positive alternative to the "violent, profane, indecent and pornography programming" that has "inundated cable-only channels." D'Andrea's filing extolls RVB shows targeted to youth, such as Pulse TV, geared towards Christian music videos, and Underground, a program that showcases urban Christian hip-hop artists. 4) The FCC unfairly requires broadcasters to go digital without requiring cable companies to carry all their new signals. D'Andrea estimates the re-engineering cost to Nashville's WHTN, a Christian oriented TV outlet, at 2 million dollars. "Our stations are struggling with the burden of developing digital programming plans in an uncertain regulatory environment," D'Andrea writes, "while simultaneously financing the costs of an unfunded, federally mandated digital build out..."
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/320

CBS: MULTICASTING HURTS HD PICTURE QUALITY
[SOURCE: TVPredictions.com, AUTHOR: Phillip Swann]
A top CBS executive says the network's HDTV picture quality is diminished when a local station decides to add a subchannel to its digital feed. Known as multicasting, many local stations today are broadcasting multiple feeds instead of just one high-def channel via their digital spectrum. The extra feeds, which often include local weather channels, splits the digital transmission into parts, thereby possibly diluting the high-def picture quality. The local stations hope the extra channels will generate more advertising. But Ken Aagaard, CBS Sports' senior vice president of operations and production services, tells the Syracuse Post-Standard that his network's engineers believe any digital subchannel takes away from the HD quality. The issue of HD picture quality is a growing concern in the industry, particularly among high-def owners who often feel cheated by what they see on screen. On Internet message boards, HD enthusiasts often accuse local stations and the cable and satellite operators of purposely squeezing the high-def signal to make room for other channels and services.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/cbs020207.htm

* For more info on the transition see "Getting to February 2009: Implementing the Digital TV Transition"
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1257

DEARTH OF DRAMA DESPITE DEMAND
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: R. Thomas Umstead]
Industry observers believe that the proliferation of African-American actors and actresses in mainstream drama serials has made the void of African-American-targeted originals less obvious to viewers. Still, some programmers believe that there’s a demand for quality and culturally relevant original dramas among African-Americans and mainstream viewers. networks have been leery of offering dramas revolving around African-Americans because of fears that such shows won't draw the mass audience necessary to lure advertisers, which in turn help fund high production costs for one-hour dramas that range from $1 million to $3 million per episode. Indeed, TV’s track record with such shows isn't stellar. While viewers over the years have shown a willingness to watch African-American life and culture through sitcoms like Good Times and The Jeffersons in the 1970’s, The Cosby Show in the 1980s, Martin in the 1990s and most recently Girlfriends and Everybody Hates Chris, the reverse has been true for dramas. Over the past 20 years dramatic series like Fox Broadcasting’s 413 Hope Street, CBS’ family-oriented Under One Roof starring James Earl Jones and the hospital skein Angels -- all of which received critical acclaim -- failed to last a full season before being cancelled due to poor ratings.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6413019.html

* Networks Pick Comedy over Drama
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6413123.html?display=Feature

TURNER TO PAY COSTS FOR DISASTROUS MARKETING CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The office of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino confirms that Turner Broadcasting has agreed to pay for the costs associated with its guerilla marketing campaign gone awry. A figure of $1 million has been reported, but the Mayor's office could not confirm that at press time, and Turner said it could not confirm the payment either. Two of the guerilla marketers face charges, and the Department of Homeland Security has registered its displeasure. Turner, a Time Warner Company, has apologized, saying it recognized the seriousness of the incident. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) Thursday sent a letter to the chairmen of the Federal Trade Commission and FCC asking them to make sure the city gets reimbursed, though it is unclear what power they would have to do so.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6412903?display=Breaking+News

* Kerry Asked Feds To Insure Turner Payments
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6413090?display=Breaking+News

* What Was Turner Thinking?
Turner lost face, but may have won in the end. Even though executives insist they didn't intend to spark an uproar with the guerilla campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the series featuring anthropomorphic fast food items, the company nonetheless gained tens of millions of dollars in free publicity for Cartoon Network and its late-night Adult Swim block, which is available in more than 91 million U.S. cable and satellite homes. Its marginal cost? A $1 million payment to Boston for its troubles, it looked like at week’s end.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6413209.html?display=Top+Stories

LIGHTSPEED'S SLOW START
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek]
With completion of the deal to purchase BellSouth, AT&T is on top of the telecom world. The company has virtually remade the old "Ma Bell" through the acquisition of 13 companies over the last decade -- spending $285 billion to do it. Now AT&T is gearing up for the next big telecom battle -- for the supremacy of the Internet. AT&T's weapon of choice is Project Lightspeed, a new Internet network that sends bits of data through copper and fiber-optic cables buried in the ground. The high-speed network and its Internet-protocol television (IPTV) technology are crucial to AT&T's plan to bundle phone service, Net connections, and TV. In theory, the system will let AT&T steal customers from rival phone giant Verizon Communications and cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner. AT&T says it will pump $4.6 billion into building enough fiber-optic cable and supporting technology to reach 19 million homes by the end of 2008. But despite AT&T's stellar performance of late, the company faces serious questions about whether Project Lightspeed can deliver on its promise. Technology glitches hobbled the rollout last year. And though the TV service is up and running in fewer than a dozen markets with prices that undercut cable bills, a growing chorus of rivals, analysts, and engineers are skeptical that the network will offer enough bandwidth a few years from now to handle phone service, high-speed Internet, and multiple streams of high-definition TV. Cable operators have taken full advantage of AT&T's slow start, gleefully swiping phone customers with their own triple-play offerings. Having invested more than $110 billion in network upgrades over the last decade to provide Internet and digital video, cable companies only have to tweak their networks to offer phone service. As of the third quarter, the five largest U.S. cable operators have signed up about 6 million new Net-based phone customers. By contrast, AT&T and Verizon have swiped a combined 222,000 TV customers.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_07/b4021067.htm?chan=tec...