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A prominent consumer group Monday called for the seizure of TV broadcasters' digital spectrum as a wasting resource that should be transferred to the more dynamic wireless high-speed-data industry.
"It is time for the [Federal Communications Commission] to take back the spectrum and put it to better uses, like WiFi [wireless fidelity, or 802.11b] and other unlicensed wireless applications, which are growing like wildfire," said Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America, in a prepared statement.
Cooper's comments came as the FCC moves forward with a review of TV stations' transition to all-digital broadcasting. The transition will conclude with the return of analog spectrum, which is not expected to occur for many years.
The National Association of Broadcasters reported that 825 TV stations (some of them noncommercial) have begun digital broadcasting, but the CFA said about 350 are operating at full power.
"Low-power stations are not fully replicating their analog-service contours in digital, which means that some percentage of homes within their analog service areas cannot receive their digital signals," Cooper said.
He added that the FCC’s unwillingness to pressure broadcasters to make full use of the digital spectrum has contributed to slow consumer adoption of digital-TV sets. The commission allowed stations to conserve power in the early stages of the transition to save money.
"With little programming actually available to consumers, sales of digital-TV sets have been lagging, which will only further delay the transition if the FCC does not act quickly," Cooper said.
Last year, at the urging of the NAB, the FCC ordered the inclusion of off-air digital-TV tuners in new TV sets. The five-year phase-in begins in July 2004, when 50 percent of all sets 36 inches and larger must have off-air digital tuners.
http://www.multichannel.com/index.as...y=breakingNews
"It is time for the [Federal Communications Commission] to take back the spectrum and put it to better uses, like WiFi [wireless fidelity, or 802.11b] and other unlicensed wireless applications, which are growing like wildfire," said Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America, in a prepared statement.
Cooper's comments came as the FCC moves forward with a review of TV stations' transition to all-digital broadcasting. The transition will conclude with the return of analog spectrum, which is not expected to occur for many years.
The National Association of Broadcasters reported that 825 TV stations (some of them noncommercial) have begun digital broadcasting, but the CFA said about 350 are operating at full power.
"Low-power stations are not fully replicating their analog-service contours in digital, which means that some percentage of homes within their analog service areas cannot receive their digital signals," Cooper said.
He added that the FCC’s unwillingness to pressure broadcasters to make full use of the digital spectrum has contributed to slow consumer adoption of digital-TV sets. The commission allowed stations to conserve power in the early stages of the transition to save money.
"With little programming actually available to consumers, sales of digital-TV sets have been lagging, which will only further delay the transition if the FCC does not act quickly," Cooper said.
Last year, at the urging of the NAB, the FCC ordered the inclusion of off-air digital-TV tuners in new TV sets. The five-year phase-in begins in July 2004, when 50 percent of all sets 36 inches and larger must have off-air digital tuners.
http://www.multichannel.com/index.as...y=breakingNews