Chris Blount
07-22-04, 06:58 AM
The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet scrutinized the digital TV transition during a hearing Wednesday, taking up how digital TV efforts have worked out in other corners of the world.
The hearing focused on digital TV efforts in Germany and the so-called Berlin model. DirecTV Vice Chairman Eddy Hartenstein told the subcommittee the satellite TV company thinks the model "can provide useful lessons for the United States in advancing the digital transition, in particular the role that satellite operators can play in achieving a hard date for the return of analog spectrum."
Among the model's "attractive aspects" is relying on cable and satellite to deliver over-the-air signals to viewers, "which seems to have made possible a nearly instantaneous transition from analog to digital broadcasting," Hartenstein said. "If a similar approach could accelerate the digital transition in the United States, it would create enormous benefits for the American public," he added.
While DirecTV is ready to help, Hartenstein cautioned subcommittee members that the company's ability to bring digital TV to U.S. consumers "will collapse if satellite operators are required to carry broadcasters' multicast programming or datacast services."
Michael Willner of Insight Cable told the panel that it's imperative for policy makers to base digital TV policies and a DTV transition timetable on "the economic circumstances of the cable, satellite and broadcasting industries that exist in the United States."
Willner said a successful transition to digital TV in the United States will require a mandated date for returning analog spectrum and full digital broadcasts, and solving the "15 percent problem" in which households that rely on over-the-air TV can purchase equipment allowing for analog TV sets to receive digital signals. Also, the MSO exec said cable operators need flexibility to convert broadcast signals from digital to analog, and Willner asked that broadcasters be required to compete in the market with other programmers "rather than giving them expanded digital must carry rights."
http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)
The hearing focused on digital TV efforts in Germany and the so-called Berlin model. DirecTV Vice Chairman Eddy Hartenstein told the subcommittee the satellite TV company thinks the model "can provide useful lessons for the United States in advancing the digital transition, in particular the role that satellite operators can play in achieving a hard date for the return of analog spectrum."
Among the model's "attractive aspects" is relying on cable and satellite to deliver over-the-air signals to viewers, "which seems to have made possible a nearly instantaneous transition from analog to digital broadcasting," Hartenstein said. "If a similar approach could accelerate the digital transition in the United States, it would create enormous benefits for the American public," he added.
While DirecTV is ready to help, Hartenstein cautioned subcommittee members that the company's ability to bring digital TV to U.S. consumers "will collapse if satellite operators are required to carry broadcasters' multicast programming or datacast services."
Michael Willner of Insight Cable told the panel that it's imperative for policy makers to base digital TV policies and a DTV transition timetable on "the economic circumstances of the cable, satellite and broadcasting industries that exist in the United States."
Willner said a successful transition to digital TV in the United States will require a mandated date for returning analog spectrum and full digital broadcasts, and solving the "15 percent problem" in which households that rely on over-the-air TV can purchase equipment allowing for analog TV sets to receive digital signals. Also, the MSO exec said cable operators need flexibility to convert broadcast signals from digital to analog, and Willner asked that broadcasters be required to compete in the market with other programmers "rather than giving them expanded digital must carry rights."
http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)