ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997 TAG: 9703310028
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Broadcasters submitted the new plan after accusations that they were dragging their feet.
Federal regulators and the broadcast industry are moving toward agreement for stations to begin rolling out cinema-quality digital television to the public in 18 months.
The Federal Communications Commission is scrambling to adopt plans by Thursday that would clear the way for the biggest change in television since color in the 1950s.
Staffers for the four FCC commissioners have been trying to agree on how rapidly TV stations must begin providing digital broadcasts, power levels of digital TV stations and whether the stations will owe the public in return for free use of the nation's airwaves.
``To be on the air in the nation's largest markets by Christmas 1998, it is imperative for the FCC to fulfill its role and bring this issue to a close by April 3,'' said National Association of Broadcasters President Eddie Fritts.
Smarting from accusations that they have dragged their feet on the next generation of television, broadcasters submitted a new plan to the FCC this week that would have stations in 14 major markets commit to rolling out digital TV in 18 months.
It improves on a plan offered just last week that promises to bring digital TV to four of every 10 households by 1999. The new plan would begin rolling out digital TV in major markets by the fall of 1998.
FCC Chairman Reed Hundt has been pushing a more rigorous proposal requiring every major network-owned TV station in the top 10 markets to begin offering some digital broadcasts within 12 to 18 months after being licensed.
Though there is movement toward an 18-month timetable, commissioners disagree about how much flexibility stations should have to meet the goal.
Hundt and FCC Commissioner Susan Ness want a specific time frame written into rules as a condition for broadcasters to receive digital TV licenses.
With an eye on spurring sales of new TV sets, Hundt wants more stations to be offering digital broadcasts in time for the 1998 holiday shopping season than provided for in the broadcasters' plan.
Broadcasters say their plan would have at least three stations providing digital TV by the 1998 holiday season in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C.
Commissioner James Quello supports the broadcasters' plan, but wants the FCC to give stations as much flexibility as possible.
Commissioner Rachelle Chong wants the marketplace, not government, to determine how quickly broadcasters roll out digital TV.
Another dispute involves a fight between UHF and VHF stations over power levels assigned to new digital stations.
As with the licensing plan, the FCC is trying to reach agreement by Thursday to give each of the nation's 1,600 TV stations a second channel needed for high-quality digital TV for free. The second channels will come from slices of the airwaves reserved for UHF stations - channels 14 and higher.
Until they convert to digital, broadcasters will transmit programs over two channels: the existing analog channels and a digital one. This way, existing analog TV sets will not be rendered immediately useless. Eventually, the analog channel will be returned to the government.
Viacom Inc., Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and the Public Broadcasting Service - all of which use UHF stations - are among those pushing the FCC to let digital UHF stations operate at higher power levels than proposed.
UHF stations say they need the higher power levels to have the same geographic coverage as their existing analog signal. VHF stations oppose this, fearing they could lose some of their coverage.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB