Additionally, freeing the analog spectrum band will allow Congress to honor its decade-old promise to give first responders 24 MHz of additional spectrum. This spectrum is ideal for interoperability, which will allow members of different public safety agencies to communicate with each other.
The legislation included an amendment from U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., that would create a $500 million fund for local first responders to purchase new communications equipment. Interoperability problems were evident during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and most recently during the response to Hurricane Katrina, and this legislation will not only help public safety agencies acquire state-of-the-art new radios, it will provide significant new spectrum capacity for this equipment.
The bill also includes a $990 million fund for a digital-to-analog converter box program, which will help consumers that rely on over-the-air television purchase equipment that converts digital signals back to analog. The Commerce Department's National Telecommunication Information Administration (NTIA) will administer the program, which will send up to two converter box coupons to any consumer that requests. The coupons can be taken to local retailers for a $40 discount on a converter box. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 15 million homes rely on over-the-air broadcasting.
Additionally, the bipartisan legislation would:
• Obligate NTIA, broadcasters, cable operators, retailers, and television manufacturers engage in a consumer education campaign regarding the transition.
• Require the FCC to complete a series of proceedings necessary to assign broadcasters final digital channel assignments.
• Mandate all new televisions of 13 inches or more must include a digital tuner by March 1, 2007. The FCC deadline for larger sets is earlier. Television sets without digital tuners already in commerce must have warning labels regarding their inability to transmit digital television programming.
• Require cable systems with a capacity greater than 550 MHz to transmit a standard definition version of a must-carry broadcast signal as well as an analog version of that signal for five years after the hard deadline. After five years, all cable systems must transmit whatever digital version of a station is sent to them by a broadcaster.
