The DTV provisions in the Budget Deficit Act are considered final...

when it reconvenes Jan. 31. Most Hill telecom staffers and lobbyists are confident the bill will pass without a hitch. But if budget reconciliation fails, new legislation could be introduced on spectrum release dates, auctions and plans to assist the transition to DTV covered in the conference report, the CRS report said. “From the perspective of public safety, the worse case scenario is that the legislative initiative to release spectrum fails, either because it’s stalled in debates over budget reconciliation or because new legislation cannot be agreed on,” the report said. Such legislation could be more expansive, since it wouldn’t be confined by restrictions in budget rules, and it would probably cover whether cable and satellite are subject to multicast must-carry rules and so are obliged to transmit all of a broadcaster’s over-the-air programming, the report said. Under the conference report adopted by the Senate and awaits approval by the House, the spectrum auctions would turn over $7.36 billion to the federal govt. for the budget deficit, which is why DTV provisions ended up in a budget bill. The 700 MHz spectrum that broadcasters would return has produced a wide range of valuations, the CRS report said. The Congressional Budget Office offered the most conservative at $12.5 billion, and private studies have gone as high as $28 billion. For investors, a crucial consideration is that the spectrum be unencumbered -- that broadcast stations have vacated. “In the case of spectrum at 700 MHz, the general opinion is that there is significant risk that the spectrum will remain encumbered, despite hard dates, thereby tying up resources indefinitely and hampering investment in new communications technologies and services,” the report said. “As presently configured, 874 licenses in 60 MHz would be available for auction. Of these, 280 licenses are considered encumbered by TV broadcast stations,” it said. The budget bill also would spend $1.5 billion on a DTV converter box subsidy program; $1 billion for public safety agencies for interoperability; up to $30 million for temporary digital equipment for N.Y. area broadcasters; up to $65 million for low-power TV stations in rural areas to upgrade from analog to digital technology; up to $106 million building a unified national alert system and $50 million for a tsunami warning and coastal vulnerability program; $43.5 million for a national 911 improvement system under the Enhance 911 Act of 2004; and up to $30 million to support the Essential Air Service Program.