Rural phone providers with ties to cable and satellite TV operato...
Rural phone providers with ties to cable and satellite TV operators should alert customers to the DTV transition, House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chmn. Stupak (D-Mich.) said Tues. Each time conflict arises over retransmitting Detroit Lions football games, his phone…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“lights up,” he said: “Just as there’s a First Amendment right to free speech, and a 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, there is a ‘1-1/2’ amendment that says ‘Don’t take away my TV.'” DTV transition education hasn’t gone well, he said: “We have not done a good job of telling Americans that they will lose their TV.” Broadcasters must vacate spectrum used for analog TV by Feb. 2009. On a related track, at its April 25 meeting the FCC is expected to consider how to use that spectrum, of which 24 MHz has been allocated to public safety. The rest will go up for auction, but rules for that auction and use of that commercial spectrum are in flux. “If the spectrum auctions are handled properly, you will really benefit,” said Stupak, urging some spectrum be sold in chunks. “It is not fair to let the smaller communications companies compete with AT&T and Verizon,” he said, speaking for his rural constituents: “We need our own niche.”