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STATUS OF THE DTV TRANSITION: 252 DAYS 

AND COUNTING 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND 

THE INTERNET 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 

COMMERCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JUNE 10, 2008 

Serial No. 110–124 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

energycommerce.house.gov 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan, Chairman 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

BART GORDON, Tennessee 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado 

Vice Chairman 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

JANE HARMAN, California 

TOM ALLEN, Maine 

JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

HILDA L. SOLIS, California 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon 

ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York 

JIM MATHESON, Utah 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

CHARLIE MELANCON, Louisiana 

JOHN BARROW, Georgia 

BARON P. HILL, Indiana 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

Ranking Member 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

J. DENNIS HASTERT, Illinois 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

NATHAN DEAL, Georgia 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky 

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico 

JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona 

CHARLES W. ‘‘CHIP’’ PICKERING, 

Mississippi 

VITO FOSSELLA, New York 

STEVE BUYER, Indiana 

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

MARY BONO MACK, California 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

MIKE ROGERS, Michigan 

SUE WILKINS MYRICK, North Carolina 

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma 

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

DENNIS B. FITZGIBBONS, Chief of Staff 

GREGG A. ROTHSCHILD, Chief Counsel 

SHARON E. DAVIS, Chief Clerk 

DAVID L. CAVICKE, Minority Staff Director 

(II)

(III) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts, Chairman 

MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

Vice Chairman 

JANE HARMAN, California 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

BARON P. HILL, Indiana 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

BART GORDON, Tennessee 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

HILDA L. SOLIS, California 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan (ex officio) 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

Ranking Member 

J. DENNIS HASTERT, Illinois 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

NATHAN DEAL, Georgia 

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico 

CHARLES W. ‘‘CHIP’’ PICKERING, 

Mississippi 

VITO FOSELLA, New York 

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California 

MARY BONO MACK, California 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

JOE BARTON, Texas (ex officio) 

(V) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hon. Edward J. Markey, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, opening statement .................................................... 1 

Hon. Cliff Stearns, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 3 

Hon. Anna G. Eshoo, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, opening statement .................................................................................... 4 

Hon. John Shimkus, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 5 

Hon. Bart Stupak, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 6 

Hon. Fred Upton, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 7 

Hon. Gene Green, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 8 

Hon. John D. Dingell, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, opening statement ....................................................................................... 9 

Hon. Jane Harman, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, opening statement .................................................................................... 11 

Hon. Greg Walden, a Representative in Congress from the State of Oregon, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 12 

Hon. Baron P. Hill, a Representative in Congress from the State of Indiana, 

prepared statement .............................................................................................. 201 

Hon. Edolphus Towns, a Representative in Congress from the State of New 

York, prepared statement .................................................................................... 201 

WITNESSES

Kevin J. Martin, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission ................... 13 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 

Answers to submitted questions 1 ...................................................................

Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, Ph.D., Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce ...... 37 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40 

Answers to submitted questions 2 ...................................................................

Mark L. Goldstein, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, U.S. Government 

Accountability Office ............................................................................................ 60 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 62 

Tom Romeo, Director, Federal Services, Global Business Service, IBM Corporation ................................................................................................................. 107 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 108 

Answers to submitted questions 3 ...................................................................

Kim Cannon, Vice President, General Manager, Fayetteville/Wilmington, 

North Carolina Markets, Time Warner Cable ................................................... 111 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 113 

Mark Lloyd, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Leadership Conference on 

Civil Rights ........................................................................................................... 121 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 124 

Paul McTear, President and Chief Executive Officer, Raycom Media, Inc. ........ 135 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 137 

Answers to submitted questions 4 ...................................................................

John Ripperton, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Management, 

RadioShack Corporation ...................................................................................... 172 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 174 

Page

VI 

Eric Rossi, Senior Product Manager, Media Product Leadership, The Nielsen 

Company ............................................................................................................... 187 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 188 

SUBMITTED MATERIAL

National Journal article entitled, ‘‘Static in the Digital TV Revolution,’’ by 

David Hatch, dated June 7, 2008 ....................................................................... 202 

Nielsen National Reference Supplement 2007–2008 ............................................ 118 

Nielsen report entitled, ‘‘The February 2009 Digital Television Transition: 

Overview of the Digital Readiness of U.S. Households and Analysis of 

Viewing to Unready Sets,’’ dated May 2008 ...................................................... 215 

1 Mr. Martin did not answer submitted questions for the record. 2 Dr. McGuire-Rivera did not answer submitted questions for the record. 3 Mr. Romeo did not answer submitted questions for the record. 4 Mr. McTear did not answer submitted questions for the record. 

(1) 

STATUS OF THE DTV TRANSITION: 252 DAYS 

AND COUNTING 

TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2008 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS

AND THE INTERNET, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:37 a.m., in room 

2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward J. Markey 

(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Present: Representatives Markey, Harman, Gonzalez, Eshoo, 

Stupak, Green, Solis, Dingell, Stearns, Upton, Deal, Shimkus, 

Radanovich, Walden, and Terry. 

Staff Present: Amy Levine, Tim Powderly, Mark Seifert, David 

Vogel, Philip Murphy, Neil Fried, and Garrett Golding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH 

OF MASSACHUSETTS 

Mr. MARKEY. Good morning, and welcome to the Subcommittee 

on Telecommunications and the Internet so that we can have a discussion about this critical issue that is going to affect every single 

American family. 

As we all know, more people have television sets in their homes 

than have telephones. The television set is the indispensable part 

of American life, and today our subcommittee is having its fifth— 

count them, five—oversight hearing on the digital television transition. 

We are now 252 days away from February 17th, 2009, when all 

full-powered TV stations in the country are required to transition 

to digital broadcasting. While February 17th now looms as a momentous date in the history of television, it is a date that we are 

endeavoring to have as unmemorable as possible from a consumer 

standpoint. 

And that brings us to the two excellent panels of witnesses who 

can assist the subcommittee this morning. They will help us to 

gauge current consumer and industry preparedness for this transition, as well as provide suggestions for programmatic improvements or other ways to minimize consumer disruption. 

Since our last hearing on this important subject, the first wave 

of converter box coupons mailed to requesting households has now 

expired after 90 days. The NTIA reports that some 16 million coupons have been requested overall, and that of the approximately 

2 

840,000 coupons that have thus far reached their 90-day expiration 

date, roughly 42 percent of these coupons have been redeemed. As 

more coupons reach the 90-day expiration date, we will have more 

and better data on the rate at which the coupons are being redeemed. This will shed additional light on the potential financial 

and administrative needs for the program. 

Second, the FCC announced recently that on September 8th, a 

pilot test switchover will occur in Wilmington, North Carolina. The 

FCC, NTIA, the DTV Transition Coalition, and local authorities are 

now gearing up for this early shut-off. 

I believe that even if this experiment goes relatively smoothly, 

both the FCC and the NTIA stand to learn something from it that 

can be applied nationally. I applaud the agencies for conducting 

this test and particularly commend the community of Wilmington, 

North Carolina, for its willingness to move forward early. 

Finally, this morning we have new, updated information being 

provided to us by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO 

recently completed a report on the technical aspects of the transition that highlighted issues confronting broadcasters and tower 

crews as they prepare to switch over from analog to full-powered 

digital broadcasting. Today the GAO supplements that information 

with its first survey results regarding consumer awareness of transition. 

The good news is that the overall percentage of consumers who 

know something is about to happen is quite high: 84 percent. Unfortunately, additional data within the first survey results do raise 

concerns. The GAO results underscore, for instance, that many consumers do not yet fully understand the ramifications of the transition. For example, some 69 percent of the respondents told GAO 

that they believe the transition would not be disruptive or not too 

disruptive to their ability to watch television. Yet 54 percent of the 

these respondents had inadequate or no plans for the transition despite being at high or medium risk of leaving TV service. 

With respect to the converter box program, only 55 percent of the 

consumers reported being aware of it. In addition, of those consumers who said they intend to purchase a box, only one-third 

were aware of how to actually obtain a coupon. 

The GAO data also indicates some significant consumer confusion. For instance, of those consumers considered at risk of losing 

television service, some 45 percent plan inadequate or no action to 

prepare for the transition. Conversely, of those consumers in a lowrisk category, in other words consumers who should not need converter boxes because all their TVs are connected to cable or satellite service, some 15 percent indicated that they would purchase 

a converter box even though they don’t need one, and 86 percent 

of those households indicated that they would utilize the NTIA program to do so. 

By age groups the GAO found that people age 45 to 64 have the 

highest awareness of the transition, and the respondents 65 and 

over showed slightly lower levels of awareness. The GAO also 

found that ethnic minorities were less likely to have awareness of 

the transition and the rationale behind it. 

All of this early survey data should be closely analyzed and monitored and should inform the various consumer education camVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
3 

paigns, especially among ethnic minorities and other hard-to-reach 

demographics. 

As the GAO conducts additional surveys and analysis, we will 

need to examine how best to calibrate the consumer education campaigns to yield not only ever greater consumer awareness, but also 

more accurate knowledge across the country about what consumers 

may need to do or not do and how best to prepare the Nation for 

the future of television. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I thank you 

all for your willingness to testify before the Telecommunications 

and Internet Subcommittee today. That completes the opening 

statement of the Chair. 

I now turn to recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from the State of Florida, Mr. Stearns. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CLIFF STEARNS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA 

Mr. STEARNS. Good morning, and thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you for holding this hearing. I think it is timely, and it is 

nice to have our witnesses here. 

We are 252 days away from the transition, so our goal today is 

to get a feel for where we are. Perhaps my opening statement will 

be a little more optimistic than the Chairman. He quotes the GAO, 

which makes their information from phone calls. We will be using 

the Nielsen rating system, which actually has devices at home and 

sends people to the houses, much like we do for a census. So I will 

be using, I think, information that is perhaps a little more accurate 

and I think for that reason is perhaps a little more optimistic. 

Having said all that, it remains vitally important for this subcommittee to exercise stringent oversight of the process so that we 

indeed can ensure that on the day after the transition, people will 

not think their TVs are broken and be calling their Congressmen. 

With this in mind, I look forward to our witnesses and this hearing. 

My colleagues, on February 17th, 2009, as the transition occurs 

for full-powered broadcasters to transmit exclusively in digital format, the DTV legislation gives industry the needed incentives, I 

think, to prepare for this transition. And the results are clear: 91 

percent of broadcasters are already transmitting in digital; 68 percent are already on their post-transition channel; and 68 percent 

are already broadcasting at full strength. As of April 30th, 2008, 

78 percent of households had all their televisions prepared for the 

transition, and 91 percent of households had one or more televisions prepared for this transition. This means that with more 

than 9 months still to go, only about a little over 9 percent of 

households were relying exclusively on analog over-the-air broadcast and needed to take action to receive programing after this 

transition. 

Now, manufacturers have already designed 87 coupon-eligible 

models of digital-to-analog converter boxes, 87, 21 of which can 

pass through analog low-power signals. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has certified over 

1,800 retailers with nearly 20,000 store locations to accept these 

coupons. Consumers can also redeem coupons from 19 online retailVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
4 

ers and 7 phone retailers. This is up from the 250 retailers with 

15,000 stores since our last DTV hearing occurred this year in February. So obviously progress is being made. 

Now, over 81⁄2 million households have requested coupons, suggesting there is awareness, it is not a major problem. NTIA has already sent out almost 15 million of the 16 million requested coupons, nearly 3 million of which have been redeemed. Now, these 

numbers demonstrate that while we still have work to do, we are 

on the path towards what I believe is a smooth transition. 

It is also worth noting that consumer satisfaction with the converter boxes is off the charts. Retailers say they have never seen 

electronic devices with such a low return rate. 

Furthermore, there is mounting evidence that the educational efforts of government and the private sector are indeed working. A 

recent survey of the Consumer Electronic Association found that 74 

percent of U.S. adults are aware of the DTV transition, which is 

up from 41 percent in August 2006. I just came back from four 

town meetings over the weekend in central Florida, and I spoke to 

450 people. Every hand in all the town meetings went up; they 

knew about the digital transition. 

Now, this still leaves over a quarter of the people unaware of the 

transition from the statistics I gave you earlier, and I would like 

to hear from our witnesses how to best reach these individuals. I 

think we are on the right track. Among the good news is that, according to Nielsen, seniors are the most prepared demographically. 

I would also like to commend the FCC for setting up a DTV transition test in Wilmington, North Carolina. I have mentioned that 

for some time, and I am very pleased that it will take place on September 8th, 2008. I think it is a good idea to have a test market 

so we can see what works and fix the problems right at the spot. 

Most businesses when they start a new operation do a test market 

to see how it works. 

I caution my colleagues, though, that the focus on Wilmington 

and all the attention it gets up to the transition perhaps could 

make the test unrealistic. I hope the test will not divert government and industry resources from the rest of the country. However, 

even if the test is not completely representative for the rest of the 

country, obviously we will certainly learn some important lessons 

from this demonstration test. So I commend the FCC for this activity. 

These are important issues. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this 

hearing, and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Gonzalez. 

The Chair recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Eshoo. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ANNA G. ESHOO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Ms. ESHOO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding yet another 

hearing on our subcommittee, so that we can make an assessment 

about the progress that we are making on the digital transition. 

First I would like to recommend that every member of the subcommittee read an article entitled ‘‘The Static in the Digital TV 

5 

Revolution’’ that was published in the June 7th National Journal. 

And I would like to ask for unanimous consent that the article be 

submitted into our record. 

Mr. MARKEY. Without objection, it will be included. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

Ms. ESHOO. The thesis of the piece is that broadcasters have 

failed to deliver on the grandiose vision of the DTV transition they 

promised, which were all sorts of new channels dedicated to children’s programs, sports and news. They testified in this very room 

and made these promises as part of their demands for mandatory 

carriage on cable and satellite services. 

Now that we are 250 days from the end of analog television, not 

one commercial broadcaster in my congressional district produces 

additional content on their multicast channels except for a few who 

air the weather radar 24 hours a day. 

There are exceptions to the barren DTV landscape. Public television stations across the country are using their additional channels for exciting new programs. In the bay area, KQED has five 

new channels they are broadcasting today. They are a channel 

dedicated to children’s programing and another 24-hour Spanishlanguage channel. 

The article also notes that the Gore Commission recommended 

that broadcasters be mandated to satisfy a minimum threshold for 

news, for public affairs programming and increased election coverage. These public-interest obligations were not codified in the 

DTV law. To ensure that broadcasters are fulfilling their public-interest obligations, I introduced the Broadcast Licensing in the Public Interest Act, H.R. 4221, and this legislation attempts to revive 

the public-interest standards that have languished in recent years. 

It reduces a broadcast license term from 8 years to 3. The 3-year 

term will bring greater oversight and accountability to broadcaster 

renewals. 

Secondly, the bill requires that broadcast licensees seeking renewal to demonstrate that they have made a dedication to civic affairs of their community and to local news gathering. The bill also 

mandates that broadcasters air locally produced programming and 

make a commitment to provide a public presentation of the views 

of candidates and issues related to local, statewide or national election. And finally, it mandates that broadcasters provide quality 

educational programming for children. 

I think we owe it to the American public to ensure that those utilizing the public broadcast spectrum produce quality programming, 

and one way is to mandate adherence to the public-interest obligations. 

So thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and 

I look forward to the testimony of the outstanding panel that you 

have assembled. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. Gentlelady’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois Mr. Shimkus. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SHIMKUS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

6 

Keeping things in perspective of the digital transition, the importance of it is to make sure that we get spectrum available to firstline responders. We are all concerned about TV signals and stuff. 

I am more concerned about our ability for our first-time responders 

to be able to communicate with each other, the firefighters, and police officers. 

We have to keep this whole debate in perspective. No matter 

what we do, no matter how many tax dollars we spend, no matter 

how many millions of dollars the industry spends, we are not going 

to be to a point where there are going to be zero defects once the 

transition occurs. In fact, there will be people who are really going 

to miss it. I liken this to the Medicare D debate. That is why I have 

done op-eds, that is why I have done newsletters, that is why I 

have done press conferences, because I don’t want to be the Member when it comes transition time and my constituents say, well, 

no one told me. So I am trying to do my part to help educate my 

constituents, just like Medicare D. 

Also, Medicare D didn’t affect everybody. It affected the seniors, 

and mostly the seniors who couldn’t afford it. This will affect those 

13 million to 10 million over-the-air people who are receiving overthe-air signals. And for those who have cable, for those who have 

direct satellite and other types of methods, this is not going to affect them. 

I applied for my coupons, I have my coupons. We are going to 

go get our converters. 2.7 million coupons have been redeemed, and 

retailers are saying that the customer satisfaction is high, and 

there are 87 different converter boxes. Twenty-seven have analog 

pass-through features, which is something that we have discussed 

here, that allow low-power broadcasters we are concerned about. 

So the process is working. The sky is not falling. I am excited 

about Wilmington, and I applaud them. I think there will be lessons learned, I appreciate that, and appreciate Chairman Martin 

and the FCC for pushing that. So when we get to the date that we 

will still be surprised, there will still be disappointments and calls, 

but hopefully a little bit less. 

Thank you for having the hearing, Mr. Chairman. I yield back 

my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. The gentleman’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan Mr. Stupak. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BART STUPAK, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN 

Mr. STUPAK. Thank you, Chairman Markey, for again holding a 

hearing on the status of the digital television transition. We are 

less than a year away from the DTV analog-to-digital switch. Unfortunately, I have a growing number of concerns about the implementation of the DTV transition. 

At the beginning of this year, U.S. households began requesting 

their DTV coupons. When a DTV coupon is sent, a package of information with details on what nearby stores carry converter boxes as 

well as Internet and phone-based ordering options is included. 

However, if you live in Marquette County, Michigan, you will find 

that all of the listed retailers are out of stock and can provide no 

clear date on when a new converter box will arrive. This is a sigVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
7 

nificant problem. My office has received several calls from those 

who are worried that they won’t find a converter box before their 

coupon expires since they are only given 90 days to use it. 

Recently, a constituent of mine from Negaunee, Michigan, called 

a number of area stores over several weekends waiting for them to 

restock their shelves with converter boxes. Nearing his last 30 days 

on the coupons and frustrated with the process, he called my office 

for help. While my staff could not locate a store with boxes in 

stock, they did find that the local Radio Shack store would take the 

coupon and mail him a box for free when it does become available. 

Why can’t all the retailers process coupons in this same fashion? 

I understand that retailers have joined the DTV transition program 

on a voluntary basis, but consumers need some certainty when 

they will be able to obtain a converter box without having to repeatedly check with stores in their area. 

Another constituent of mine from Petoskey, Michigan, has run 

into the exact same problem of stores not being in stock and no 

date certain of when boxes are coming. In fact, when my staff assisted him in finding a store, they discovered that one of the five 

nearest stores listed on the DTV2009.gov vendor database isn’t 

even open for business, and that the phone number listed is out of 

service. 

With over 7 months remaining, I am concerned that this is just 

the beginning of the problems my district and others will face. I encourage the NTIA to lift the 90-day expiration date to provide more 

time to those having difficulty finding converter boxes. In addition, 

the NTIA needs to do a better job of making sure that retailers are 

keeping the stores in stock. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s hearing. I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses, and I hope they will be 

able to alleviate my concerns about the current status of DTV transition. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman. The gentleman’s time has 

expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan Mr. Upton. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. FRED UPTON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN 

Mr. UPTON. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I appreciate the 

opportunity to have this hearing as well. I think that it is very important we continue to have these snapshots of progress or lack 

thereof in terms of the transition date that you and I worked very 

closely on, along with Chairman Dingell and Mr. Barton. 

We need to remember that the 9/11 Commission’s top recommendation was we need to make the transition from analog to 

digital. It was terrible on that day, on 9/11, when our firefighters 

in New York could not communicate with their headquarters folks 

to get out of those buildings. We learned with Katrina that the 

Coast Guard personnel were not able to coordinate efforts with the 

local sheriffs as well in terms of the evacuation. So this transition 

is a big thing, particularly for all of our public safety officers. 

We also knew there would be a slow transition for people to 

make that change from analog to digital, not only to consumers, 

but the broadcasters as well. 

8 

I must say that I have been pleased with the many, many announcements that I have seen not only while I have been here voting in the Washington area, but back in southwest Michigan as 

well in terms of the information being passed along to consumers 

about what that change means and whether or not they need to 

apply for a coupon so that they can find a retailer to make that 

transition. 

I would note, too, that for those areas that are somewhat rural, 

my district is fairly diverse. I have a city the size of Kalamazoo, 

100,000 folks, and I have another county in my district that has 

only about a 200-yard stretch of four-lane road, the rest being twolane. But consumers can also redeem coupons from some 19 online 

retailers and 7 phone retailers. I think that is a step certainly in 

the right direction. 

So we have 7 months to go. I think that it is imperative among 

all of us as public servants to help put out that message in terms 

of what that change is going to mean for people that are going to 

require such and provide relief for those that are not going to have 

to make that change. 

Again, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this hearing and look forward 

to the testimony of all the witnesses, particularly Chairman Martin. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GENE GREEN, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Mr. GREEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this now fifth 

hearing on the DTV transition. Like my colleagues from Illinois 

and quite a lot of Members, we have actually included the application on our newsletter both in Spanish and in English, and we 

have actually walked it to our senior citizen centers where they 

have both on-site nutrition and also Meals-on-Wheels. So there is 

an effort nationwide. 

It seems like issues and problems continue to rise, so continued 

oversight from our committee is essential. In our last DTV hearing, 

I expressed concern about individuals living in nursing homes not 

being able to apply for coupons. Since then I understand that NTIA 

has taken action, and the comment period closed yesterday on an 

NPRN to address this as well as allowing individuals that use P.O. 

Boxes as well as their primary address to apply for coupons. So I 

would like to thank Dr. McGuire-Rivera for NTIA’s work on the 

issue. 

I mention the issues continue to surface, and recently I have 

been hearing from constituents who are concerned about batterypowered digital television sets being scarce. I am in Houston, and 

we know with Katrina and Allison and Rita the concern we have 

in our emergency situation. And I have to admit I lost power in my 

house even with Rita, and it wasn’t near my home, but the power 

went out, and we used battery-operated televisions. The issue is 

what is going to happen in an emergency situation where people 

either have to use their radio, where battery power is not unusual, 

but to be able to get to the television. I hope the NTIA and the 

FCC would look at something like battery-powered converter boxes 

9 

are just nonexistent, but also see what we can do about making 

sure that is available. 

We can get the news through the radio, but a lot of folks also 

like to see the storm on the maps that we have. With the hurricane 

season upon us and the high number of tornadoes we have seen 

across the country, people need to be able to rely on storm coverage 

provided by local television broadcasters. But if their power is 

knocked out, that would not be an option. I hope to hear from witnesses today on the problem, and I plan to explore it during questioning. 

I would like to continue a concern with the outreach to nonEnglish speaking households who have—reports and statistics I 

have seen, broadcasters are prepared and well-positioned to complete the transition and switch off analog in February 2009. The 

persistent problem seems to remain confusion on the part of consumers and lack of understanding about what needs to be done to 

prepare for the transition and who needs to take action. The problem seems to be more prevalent in non-English speaking households, and I hope to hear today what additional actions have been 

taken since our last hearing where it generally agreed that this 

was a problem to address. I understand that half the calls taken 

by NTIA on the converter box program are from non-English 

speaking households, which I think highlights the focus on the segment of population. It is encouraging I have not heard complaints 

about NTIA not being able to handle these calls, but I think the 

disproportionate number of calls demonstrates that more effort 

needs to be focused on this segment of the population. 

And again, I thank the Chairman for holding the hearing and 

the continuing hearings because all of us want to make sure that 

we do our work up front, because none of us want to wait until 

February of next year and find out from a lot of our constituents 

problems that we should have addressed. 

I yield back my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, the Chairman of the Full Committee, Mr. Dingell. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. DINGELL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN 

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, first I thank you for the recognition; and second, I commend you for your leadership in this matter. 

I wish to welcome our witnesses to the fifth oversight hearing on 

digital television transition, DTV transition, before this subcommittee in the 110th Congress. The DTV transition is one of the 

most important telecommunications issues facing this committee 

this year, and time is running out. We need to know whether we 

are ready for it and how it is going to impact upon the people, particularly those who have the least. 

In 252 days millions of analog television sets in this country will 

stop receiving full-power broadcast television signals. While broadcasters, cable providers, retailers and others have undertaken significant efforts to educate consumers, far too many remain unaware and are ill-prepared for the transition. 

10 

When 54 percent of the households have inadequate or no plans 

whatsoever for the transition, despite being at risk of losing service, it demonstrates that there is still much to be done before February 17, 2009, and your leadership, Mr. Chairman, and the efforts 

of this subcommittee will be an important contributor in finding 

out what is going on and what needs to be done to assure that the 

American public is properly protected. 

Certain recent developments with respect to DTV transition are 

the focus of today’s hearings. Last month the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, announced the test market for the 

DTV transition in Wilmington, North Carolina. On September 8, 

2008, most commercial broadcasters in the Wilmington market will 

go all digital ahead of the national transition deadline of February 

17, 2009. I hope this test market will help identify the issues that 

may need to be addressed before the rest of the Nation undergoes 

the DTV transition next February. 

Next, a recent Government Accountability Office, GAO, consumer 

survey found that 35 percent of the over-the-air homes and 52 percent of the homes with at least one unconnected analog television 

set are unprepared for the transition. These numbers suggest that 

much remains to be done to educate consumers, including seniors, 

non-English speaking households, as mentioned by my friend Mr. 

Green, and other vulnerable populations. 

Finally, the first DTV converter box coupons have already begun 

to expire, allowing some insight into the redemption rates for the 

converter box coupon program. This should be a matter of very 

great concern to this subcommittee and indeed to the public at 

large. It is my hope that this data will assist us in determining 

whether more money may be needed for this program, or whether 

the FCC will be required to do some tweaking of that part of the 

matter. 

These recent developments raise a number of important questions. First, will funding for the TV converter box coupon program 

be sufficient? I have always had doubts about this, and I am curious as to whether those fears will be realized. And we will need 

to know whether some consumers will be left without assistance. 

Second, how will NTIA and IBM facilitate the changeover from 

the first phase of the TV converter box program in which any 

household can apply for up to two coupons, to the second phase in 

which coupons are restricted to only over-the-air households? 

Third, will the FCC and NTIA have sufficient resources to educate consumers in every community in the same extent as was 

done in the Wilmington test market? I have to confess I have great 

doubts about that, and I hope that the Chairman this morning, 

whom I welcome, will be able to give us some guidance on that 

matter. If not, how much of the actual indicator will be addressed 

for the national transition to this new test market? 

What resources are available to assist consumers who may need 

in-home assistance to set up their converter boxes? If consumers 

hook up their converter box, and it fails to deliver digital signals, 

how will they know whether the converter box is broken, or if a 

new roof-top antenna or other technological fix is needed? 

That raises the question, are we seeing to it that proper instructions, and warnings, advices are being given to people who are apVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
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plying for the coupons, and are they coming with the coupons in 

a way that would enable the receiver of the coupon to act responsibly in his own interest? 

In some viewing areas a broadcaster’s digital signal will cover 

different areas than a broadcaster’s current analog signal. That 

poses interesting questions and can create some significant hardship. How will consumers know if they fall inside a broadcaster’s 

analog footprint, but outside the digital footprint? 

These are only a few of the many questions that remain about 

the transition, and we need to have answers if the transition is to 

proceed. I urge the witnesses to address these and other pending 

matters in their testimony. 

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today, and I look 

forward to working with them and everyone else to resolve the 

issues that we still confront. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the Chairman. 

And now we turn and recognize the gentlelady from California, 

Ms. Harman. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JANE HARMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Ms. HARMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I want to take just a moment to bid farewell to a valued staffer, 

Hank Greenberg, who is sitting behind me. He is leaving to what 

you would call Harvard Law School. His extraordinary talent has 

not gone unnoticed by the committee staff, the subcommittee staff, 

or the FCC, and I just want to say he will be sorely missed. 

Mr. MARKEY. He has to learn to park his car in the Harvard 

Yard, though, or else he is going to get in a lot of trouble. 

Ms. HARMAN. I am sure he will do that, Mr. Chairman. 

Turning to the subject at hand. Like some of the other members, 

I am less worried about converter boxes and coupons than I am 

about achieving the real goal of the DTV transition, which is interoperability for first responders. The spectrums freed up by the 

transition is one of the keys to fixing the emergency communication 

problems that, as we know, continue to plague our country’s public 

safety users. 

I commend Chairman Martin and his agency for trying for the 

second time to establish a public-private partnership that will create a nationwide interoperable broadband network for our Nation’s 

first responders and give them technology that commercial wireless 

subscribers enjoy. 

I think we can fix the problems that doomed the first auction, 

the lack of clarity that deterred potential bidders, the lack of transparency on the public safety side of the partnership. To that end 

last month I introduced H.R. 6055, Public Safety Broadband Authorization Act, which will authorize modest interim funding to 

help the FCC promote a nationwide interoperable public safety 

communications network. It allows the FCC, as I am sure Chairman Martin knows, to make very modest grants to the public safety broadband licensee to cover its operating and administrative 

costs, and it bars that licensee from taking outside funds or using 

grant money to repay outstanding debts, the point of which is to 

12 

eliminate any appearance of conflict of interest. It is a small step. 

The big step is completing finally the transition on time and getting this public safety spectrum identified and built out. 

Let me finally say that over the weekend in Los Angeles, I met 

with Haim Saban, whose company owns Univision. He was describing major efforts that Univision is making to educate consumers 

and to facilitate the DTV transition. Mr. Chairman, I hope that we 

can arrange a briefing for staffers or members on what is happening out there. This is the largest Spanish-language communications network, and it is impressive to me that they are making 

these efforts. Perhaps others are, too, but there is something to celebrate in the private sector in connection with the transition. 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. Great. The gentlelady’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon Mr. Walden. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GREG WALDEN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OREGON 

Mr. WALDEN. I thank you very much. I want to welcome our panelists today. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for continuing these oversight hearings. I think they are very important. I learned years ago, both as 

a broadcaster and when we dealt with some of the satellite issues, 

that somewhere buried in the Constitution is a provision that guarantees access to television the way I have gotten it all along, and 

I think we are all going to find that out in February. 

I will be interested today to hear more about where we are in 

terms of the coupons, how they are being redeemed. I understand 

that there is actually some decent news on that. 

I would like to hear more about the analog pass-through boxes 

and where we stand on that. I think that was an oversight perhaps 

we all missed, that some of these boxes needed to have that passthrough capability, and I know there are some now out there on 

the market. I would be curious to see how that is being resolved 

to deal with especially these low-power TV stations that have other 

problems that have to be dealt with. I know we tried to reach a 

consensus in some of the discussions about that. It could play into 

this mix. If there is a big fight about February of next year, you 

wouldn’t want to see these stations go dark during that process 

necessarily, and maybe there is some opportunity there to discuss 

how we might avoid that, at least a pause time. 

And finally, I would like to hear more about what you are hearing from broadcasters themselves. Having, again, been a radio 

broadcaster, I am a little concerned about everybody trying to 

change out their antennas and other transmission components all 

basically the same day, the same time. In many of our western 

States certainly that means hilltops, mountaintops, accessible 

maybe by snowcap only in February, and a limited number of engineers. And so I still am concerned about whether consumers may 

have their TVs ready to go, and broadcasters may be snowed out 

literally from being able to make the conversion. If our panelists 

can address those as well, that would be appreciated. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, again for your oversight hearings. I 

think it is a very important issue for American consumers. 

13 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired, and all time for 

opening statements from the members of the subcommittee has expired. 

And now we return to our very, very distinguished panel to learn 

about what is happening in the digital transition. Our first witness 

is Kevin Martin, who is the Chairman the Federal Communications 

Commission, and he is here to talk about this new test market in 

Wilmington, North Carolina, that we are all looking forward to 

learning about. 

We welcome you back, Mr. Chairman. Whenever you are ready, 

please begin. 

STATEMENT OF KEVIN J. MARTIN, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL 

COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, thank you and good morning, Chairman Markey and all the members of the Committee. I certainly thank you 

for inviting me to be here today and to give me a chance to update 

you on the status of the digital transition. 

As mandated by Congress on February 17th, 2009, all full-powered television stations in the country will stop broadcasting in 

analog and broadcast exclusively in digital. The DTV transition 

will provide television viewers with movie-quality picture and 

sound and potentially new programing choices. It will also allow us 

to significantly improve public safety communications and usher in 

a new era of advanced wireless services such as the widespread deployment of broadband. A successful DTV transition will depend 

upon minimizing the burdens placed on consumers and maximizing 

their ability to benefit from it. 

Now, I would like to update you on some of the recent regulatory 

actions and education efforts that we have been undergoing at the 

Commission. The broadcasters are making significant progress in 

converting their facilities to all digital. Almost 1,000 completed construction and are providing full service to their viewers today. 

We have adopted the final DTV table of allotments, which provides over 99 percent of the television stations with their final digital channel, and we have adopted the technical procedures and 

roles to guide broadcasters through to the end of the transition. 

Thanks to the staff’s efficient processing of construction permits, 

last month we were able to begin accepting applications to expand 

the DTV service area 12 weeks ahead of schedule. 

The Commission’s DTV-related enforcements efforts have focused 

on making sure consumers aren’t taken advantage of during this 

transition. The Commission to date has inspected 3,992 retail 

stores and 37 Web sites. We have issued 361 citations for failing 

to comply with our labeling rules. In the last 2 months, we have 

released NALs against nine retailers, totaling nearly $5 million. 

We released three NALs and seven consent decrees for TVs with 

digital tuners that do not comply with the V-chip regulations, and 

settlements including payments totaling over 31⁄2 million in significant compliance measures. 

And finally, our field agents across the country have visited almost 935 stores and interviewed 842 store managers in over 34 

States. To date we have found that the majority of the store managers are well-informed of the DTV transition and the NTIA conVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
14 

verter box program. Our field agents follow up at these stores with 

information and tip sheets and conducting staff training sessions as 

they are needed. 

With a little less than 9 months to go, the industry and Commission are actively reaching out to consumers to alert them of the 

coming transition and to inform them about the steps they will 

need to take. I commend the industry for the consumer education 

campaign that they have initiated. The CEA, NAB, and APTS have 

all reported significant increases in the percentage of consumers 

who are aware of the upcoming DTV transition from around 40 

percent in 2006 and the beginning of 2007 to almost 80 percent by 

January of this year. 

That more viewers are aware of the transition is a step in the 

right direction. Now we need to make sure we focus on making 

sure that they know what to do to prepare for that transition. A 

recent Consumers Union survey found that 64 percent of consumers were aware of the transition, but that 74 percent had major 

misconceptions about its impact on them. These surveys are useful 

in helping us identify how we need to focus our efforts and resources. 

I will give you just a few statistics on the status of our education 

campaign, and more details are available in my written testimony. 

The Commission has conducted more than 1,000 DTV awareness 

sessions around the country, attended more than 200 conferences 

and events, had almost 100 partnership meetings, and made about 

5,750 visits to various organizations around the country to disseminate DTV information. 

Almost 4 million pages of our DTV publications have been distributed to individual consumers and to consumer agencies and organizations. We have distributed 7,700 posters nationwide, and by 

next month we will be displaying DTV education posters in all 

34,000 post offices across the country. The poster we will have in 

the post offices is on display in front of me. We have the billboards 

that we are using across the country on display over here, and 

these are our tip sheets and fact sheets on display in front of me 

as well. We also secured commitments from 36 States to display 

DTV materials in 1,100 Department of Motor Vehicle locations. 

The FCC outreach effort also recognizes that some consumers 

will be disproportionately impacted by the transition or are harder 

to reach than the general population. For instance, we have placed 

special emphasis on reaching seniors. Through the work of our field 

agents, we have distributed information to over 4,000 senior centers and almost 1,700 community centers. We have given nearly 

900 presentations at these centers. We are working closely with 

AARP and other senior organizations, presented at their conferences and participated in interviews with their media. 

We are also taking extra steps to reach non-English speakers 

and minorities who disproportionately rely on over-the-air television. Most, if not all, of our DTV publications are available in 

Spanish. We have conducted 15 DTV awareness sessions, attended 

more than 21 conferences or events, had numerous partnership 

meetings, and made about 72 visits to various organizations all 

specifically targeting the Hispanic population. We have partnered 

with Univision to educate the Spanish-speaking audiences, as ConVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
15 

gresswoman Harman was mentioning. There are 200 planned town 

hall meetings that will take place over the next few months, and 

the FCC will be partnering with Univision to attend those. The 

FCC is planning to participate in the upcoming conferences including the conference of the United Latin American Citizens, the 

United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Annual Expo, and 

the National Council of La Raza conference. 

One step we have taken to target rural viewers has been to place 

DTV transition materials at State and county fairs throughout the 

country. We already have plans to disseminate the transition materials to 188 State and county fairs in 25 States. 

Now, earlier this year my colleague, Commissioner Copps, suggested that the Commission engage in a real-world experiment, 

readying broadcasters and consumers in advance of the upcoming 

digital transition. 

Last month I announced that Wilmington, North Carolina, would 

be the first market in the country to make the transition to digital 

television. The commercial broadcasters serving Wilmington have 

agreed to step up to this challenge. This test market will provide 

the FCC and TIA and other key stakeholders the opportunity to assess the effectiveness of our outreach and technical efforts. We will 

have ample time to modify these efforts based on the lessons 

learned in advance of the February national transition. 

To prepare the Wilmington consumers, we have exhibited at over 

100 events, we have partnered with 70 local organizations to distribute our materials, and over 32,000 publications have been distributed to consumers. We have created and distributed radio PSAs 

and displayed four billboards in high-traffic areas. And we created 

a dedicated Web site and tailored posters and FCC publications 

specifically to the Wilmington, North Carolina, market. 

Since the FCC made its announcement, household coupon demand in Wilmington has increased by 78 percent, and that compares to a 22 percent increase for the country as a whole. 

In conclusion, the Commission is devoting significant resources to 

facilitating a smooth transition. Nearly every bureau and office at 

the Commission has been involved in this effort, including our field 

offices throughout the country. We intend to take whatever actions 

are necessary to minimize the potential burden the DTV transition 

could impose on consumers and maximize their ability to benefit 

from it. 

The next 3 months for the Wilmington, North Carolina, and 9 

months for the rest of the country will undoubtedly be challenging. 

Nevertheless it is my hope that through the combined efforts of the 

government, industry and advocacy groups, the American consumers will ultimately reap the rewards that the digital transition 

has to offer. 

Thank you, and I look forward to answering questions you may 

have. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Martin follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Now we will hear from Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, 

who is the Associate Administrator of the National Telecommunications Administration, and she is here to speak about the redemption rates of the DTV converter box program. Welcome. 

STATEMENT OF BERNADETTE MCGUIRE-RIVERA, PH.D., ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

AND INFORMATION APPLICATIONS, NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Thank you, Chairman Markey, Ranking 

Member Stearns. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today 

about the progress of the TV converter box coupon program. 

When Acting Assistant Secretary Baker appeared before the subcommittee in February, we were off to a very strong start now, and 

its 6-month interest in the coupon program remains very high. 

As many of you have noted, we have received 81⁄2 million requests for 16 million coupons. Requests are now averaging approximately 104,000 a day. Half of the requesting households say they 

rely exclusively on over-the-air television. An initial backlog due to 

high demand has been eliminated, and now all coupons are processed timely and are mailed within 10 to 15 days after we receive 

the request. 

NTIA recognizes the Committee and everyone interested in the 

coupon program was interested in the redemption rates. That really was our big news for this week. The first 800,000 coupons expired, and of those, 42 percent have been used. I want to caution 

everyone, though, that this is a very small sample. The first 800 

really came in in the first few days, many in the wee hours of New 

Year’s Day. And I have a funny feeling almost everyone in this 

room was in that first day’s order. So these consumers may be a 

little different. We will be updating this data. 

We have estimated that by July 1st, 3-1/2 million coupons will 

have completed the full cycle. By that time we should have a robust estimate of what redemption will actually be, but we will keep 

the committee up to date on redemption data as we get it, as we 

begin to analyze it. 

Now, all the progress we have made to date is tied directly to the 

voluntary participation of NTIA partners in private industry, in the 

nonprofit sector and in government. Thanks to the consumer electronic manufacturers, certified converter boxes are widely available. NTIA has certified 87 models; 21 have analog pass-through 

capability. The retailers on the next panel will talk to you about 

we are getting those into the stores. 

As of today 3 million boxes have been purchased using a coupon, 

and as you noted, people seem to be very happy with the performance of the boxes. Thanks to our 1,800 participating electronics retailers, we have 19,000 stores where boxes are available. This includes seven of the largest consumer electronics chains, hundreds 

of regional retailers and smaller local stores. 

The program has retailers in all 50 States and every DMA as 

well as Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Consumers 

can also order from 19 online retailers or call 7 telephone retailers. 

Manufacturing organizations such as CEA and CERC continue to 

38 

be very helpful in providing information to consumers about how 

to use the boxes and helping the program. 

Consumer education is our number one priority both for NTIA 

and the Commerce Department. Secretary Gutierrez and Acting 

Secretary Baker regularly make public appearances, give press 

interviews, and work closely with staff in planning and execution 

of the program. 

In this next phase of our program, we want to move from just 

awareness to awareness and action. Our message, which should be 

at the end of this week on the front of the Commerce Department, 

is ‘‘Experience the Benefits.’’ We right now want people to not only 

know about the coupon program and order the coupon, but go out 

and buy the box, because right now the majority of people can experience a much better television picture with the box. But also, 

our motivation behind that is we do not want a rush at the end 

of the year. It is important that people now start to buy the boxes, 

get them in place so we do not have people coming in waiting until 

February 1st to get their boxes. 

The level of consumer participation, I think, is very strong evidence in the coupon orders that the program is working. We now 

have 272 nonprofit partners that are very helpful in spreading the 

word about the coupon program. We specifically look for partners 

that have close ties to the vulnerable populations; for example, 

AARP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, The American 

Council of the Blind, Goodwill Industry, the National Council of La 

Raza, the National Congress of American Indians, and the National 

Grange. 

Now, seniors, of course, are a very important audience. We are 

conducting the rulemaking to make residents of nursing homes and 

other senior facilities available, make them eligible for coupons. 

That comment period closed last night, and you have our commitment that we will work as quickly as possible to complete this rulemaking. 

We are also keenly aware of the need to reach out to communities where the primary language may not be English. All of our 

materials are available in both English and Spanish, and we have 

150 different languages that are available for people to order coupons with at the call center. About 40 percent of all the calls going 

into the call center right now are in Spanish. We are working very 

closely with Univision, Telemundo. We will be going to La Raza 

and doing a special event with Univision. I reinforce that these 

groups have done a terrific job. And everytime Univision does anything, we know to have that call center doubled up, because they 

really generate the calls. 

We also participated in the beginning of the month with the congressional tricaucus meeting that was put together by Representative Solis, which focused on the needs of Black, Latino, and AsianPacific Americans. 

NAB, NCTA and the media industries really have been outstanding partners. Every day television stations and cable channels 

across the country carry public service announcements about the 

coupon program. We believe they have a lot to do with our 104,000 

calls a day. 

39 

NTIA has been working with other Federal agencies to educate 

other vulnerable populations. For example, the Veterans Administration, the USDA food stamp program, and HHS’s Office of Community Service are all including information about the coupon program in publications and mailings to their constituencies. We also 

are working with the post office to place coupon applications in all 

the post offices. 

Of course, one of our most important government partners is the 

FCC, and we will be collaborating very closely with the Commissioner. 

Mr. MARKEY. If you could summarize. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We will be in Wilmington. We have adopted all our materials for Wilmington. In fact, we will be going down 

there tonight to do some special work on the seniors and nursing 

homes. 

In closing, I want to remind you if you want to learn more about 

it, the box and the materials are in the Rayburn cafeteria. Thank 

you very much. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you so much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. McGuire-Rivera follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Our next witness is Mark Goldstein, who is the Director of Fiscal Infrastructure Issues from the GAO. He is here 

today to speak about the recent GAO report about broadcast preparedness for the DTV transition. 

We welcome, you. 

STATEMENT OF MARK L. GOLDSTEIN, DIRECTOR, PHYSICAL 

INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 

Mr. GOLDSTEIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the 

subcommittee. I am pleased to be here today to discuss our recently 

issued report on technical issues arising from the digital television 

transition and our work on the extent of the consumer awareness 

about the transition. My comments are based on our work on the 

transition completed for this subcommittee. And we are continuing 

to review public- and private-sector efforts under way to implement 

the transition and plan to report on those issues later this year. 

In my testimony today I will discuss, one, the progress that fullpowered broadcast stations have made in transitioning to digital, 

as well as the technical and coordination issues they face; two, 

issues pertaining to low-power television stations and how they affect consumers; and three, the extent to which American households are aware of the DTV transition and likely to utilize a converter box subsidy program. 

In summary, first, broadcasters have made significant progress 

in preparing for the DTV transition. Many stations are already 

broadcasting their digital signal in full power, with the only step 

remaining to turn off their analog signal. 

Specifically as of the end of February 2008, 91 percent of broadcasters responding to our survey reported that they were already 

transmitting a digital signal. Nine percent of stations responding 

to our survey had yet to begin broadcasting a digital signal, but almost all of those stations expect to be broadcasting digitally by 

February 17th, 2009. 

In finalizing the transition to digital, some stations must still resolve technical coordination and construction issues. Technical 

issues include relocating either digital or analog antennas, and in 

some cases constructing new broadcast towers. Some stations are 

bound by financial constraints related to the costs resolving these 

issues. In fact, at the time of our survey, 69 stations indicated they 

have yet to start construction on their final digital facilities due to 

financial constraints. 

In addition, some stations have outstanding coordination issues 

such as the U.S. Government reaching agreements with the Canadian-Mexican Governments regarding signal interference issues 

and coordination with cable providers and satellite companies. 

Second, since most low-power stations do not plan to transition 

to digital by February 2009, it is possible for some viewers to receive programming in analog and digital after the transition date. 

Potentially millions of viewers can receive low-power analog transmissions, including programming from the major networks, Spanish-language broadcasting and public television. 

To have access to both analog and digital television signals after 

the DTV transition, viewers could purchase a special kind of conVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
61 

verter box that passes through an analog signal and a digital signal, often referred to as analog pass-through, and purchase other 

equipment. Currently converter boxes with analog pass-through are 

available for purchase on line and at two national retailers. 

Public and private stakeholders have taken steps to educate the 

public about the low-power broadcast potentially remaining in analog, an option available to consumers. But some advocacy groups 

and others have expressed concerns that the messages intending to 

explain low-powered issues are instead confusing the public. Further complicating matters, many consumers do not know the difference between full-power and low-power stations or whether the 

signals they receive are full or low power. 

Finally, according to our consumer survey results, most households will be unaffected by the DTV transition, and a vast majority 

have heard of the transition. About 84 percent of the people heard 

of the transition. A smaller number of people have more specific 

knowledge of the transition date and why the transition is taking 

place. 

Those at higher risk of being affected by the transition, households viewing over-the-air television signals, have higher levels of 

awareness than those who will be unaffected. Over half of households have heard of the converter box subsidy program and those 

households at risk of losing television service who plan to take action reportedly are likely to utilize the program. However, only a 

third of those indicating plans to purchase boxes and utilize the 

coupons reported knowing how to obtain coupons. 

While general awareness of the DTV transition is high, there are 

indications that some consumers are confused or unknowledgeable 

about the transition, as 45 percent of the households who are at 

risk plan no action or inadequate action to prepare for the transition. And among those unaffected by the transition, 30 percent indicated they have plans to ready themselves for the transition despite the fact that no action will be required of them to maintain 

service. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes my statement. I will 

be pleased to answer any questions that you or members of the 

subcommittee have. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Goldstein, very much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Goldstein follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. And we thank the panel, and the Chair now recognizes himself for a round of questions. We are going to begin with 

you, Dr. McGuire-Rivera. 

In your testimony you state, ‘‘As distributed but unredeemed coupons expire, funds otherwise obligated to those coupons will be returned to the coupon program. The program currently has limited 

administrative funds to distribute additional numbers of coupons 

that might be issued for the return funds. The program is carefully 

watching its administrative funding limits so that it can distribute 

as many coupons as possible.’’ This sounds like money might be returned to the pool so that additional eligible consumers apply and 

obtain needed converter boxes, but that a lack of administrative 

funds might prevent the program from mailing them out to the 

people in America that need these converter boxes. 

Please explain. This sounds like there could be a big problem 

here. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We asked for the contention funds. One of 

the reasons we asked for it is we thought not so much that you 

would need money for coupons, but we could in fact need money 

for administration due to mid changes that we are going to be making in the program from the rulemakings and because there is 

going to be a lot of recycling. And I think when the administrative 

funds were established, there was never enough money for endless 

recycling of the coupons. 

Mr. MARKEY. Is this potentially a big problem, that you won’t 

have the funding? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I would say it would be a midsized problem. 

Mr. MARKEY. A midsized problem might entail having a million 

people not being able to make the commercial—I am wondering, 

how do you define midsized? Do you need more administrative 

funds, in other words? Or does IBM need to do something here? 

Tell us what the solution is. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. The funds would go to IBM. 

Mr. MARKEY. What do you need us to do? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We need you to work with us as we figure 

out what is actually going on with the redemption rates and with 

the demand rates. If demand stays high and redemption stays 

where it is, about 30 to 40 percent, it looks like we will be able to 

redistribute more coupons than we ordinarily thought. So we would 

have to get more money basically to buy more stamps to send out 

coupons. 

Mr. MARKEY. So you are going to need more money, though? Is 

that what you are saying? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Possibly for stamps. 

Mr. MARKEY. Possibly stamps. OK. So we won’t think of that as 

money. But there is a price on that. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. There is a price on that. 

Mr. MARKEY. And you will pay for those stamps with money 

maybe? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We will need money. 

Mr. MARKEY. OK. Thank you. 

Mr. Goldstein, what data point in the initial survey results would 

you highlight as particularly concerning to you? 

86 

Mr. GOLDSTEIN. I think there are several. We think there is a 

fair amount of confusion still out there as I indicated. Number one, 

of the—roughly 45 percent of households that are in the high-risk 

group do not plan to take action. They seem to be unprepared to 

know what it is they need to do in terms of getting a converter box 

or a coupon. Of those who do understand what the program is and 

that they need to take some action, 100 percent of them said that 

they would actually redeem a coupon. 

But there are other confusion points as well. As you indicated in 

your opening statement, 30 percent of households that are in the 

low-risk group that really don’t have to take any action at all still 

plan to take action to get a converter box and therefore might also 

get a coupon and therefore be a drain on the treasury. There are 

a number of sort of anomalies and a lot of confusion still out there 

that have—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Let me ask you this. I think we heard from Dr. 

McGuire-Rivera that 40 percent of the calls coming into the call 

center are in Spanish. Can you talk about that issue and how well 

the program is working in terms of addressing that community? 

Mr. GOLDSTEIN. We didn’t specifically look for this particular report of those issues. We are doing some ongoing work now to continue to look at the consumer—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Could you do me a favor, Mr. Goldstein? Could you 

put aside a special focus on that issue of how the Hispanic community is going to ultimately be dealt with with this program? If 40 

percent of the calls coming in are in Spanish, there is obviously an 

issue here because it only represents maybe 10 or 11 percent of our 

population. So to the extent to which something is popping up like 

that, I would appreciate it if GAO would focus on it. 

And in fact if I can go back to you, Chairman Martin, how do 

you respond to these concerns that are being raised here at NTIA 

in terms of its administrative funding and over here with regard 

to the awareness but yet these gaps that exist in terms of individuals’ response? 

Mr. MARTIN. I certainly support NTIA if they needed extra administrative funding to be able to mail out the coupons, then I 

think that that is a critical thing that we will need to make sure 

everyone gets to take advantage of the coupon program. I think 

that the Hispanic and Spanish speaking homes are twice as likely 

to not subscribe to cable or satellite. So they are a particularly atrisk population. The potential problem is compounded by the fact 

that it is even harder to get the message out to them. I think that 

is one of the reasons why they have been certainly one of our top 

target groups. And I think that what we need to do is continue to 

try to work with the organizations who understand how to get a 

message out at a grassroots level to them. We have—I think both 

NTIA and the Commission translated all of our information so that 

it is available in Spanish, but we really are trying to work at the 

grassroots level like what we are doing with Univision for town 

hall meetings, like what we are doing with the Hispanic Chamber 

of Commerce for town hall meetings and in cities with high Spanish speaking populations. I think it is going to be critical to make 

sure that they understand this transition is going to impact them 

as well. 

87 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. My time has expired. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Stearns. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. McGuire-Rivera, I 

just want to clarify a little of what Chairman Markey mentioned. 

If you get access to the second set of funds that in fact have been 

allocated through Congress and made available to you, as the statute has stipulated, will you then have enough money for the administrative expenses and coupons? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We are being very cautionary about that. 

Mr. STEARNS. Can you bring your mic a little closer? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We are being very cautious about that because we may in fact need a little bit more to continue to recycle 

coupons. And also we won’t really have a firm answer on that until 

we get a better sense of what it is going to cost to do the rulemaking changes. So we may, we may not. I don’t think it is a huge 

alarm at this point. But I also don’t want to be in a situation where 

we would come back to you in July and surprise you. 

Mr. STEARNS. Yeah. But we have allocated $60 million additional 

money for you. Do you think you will need more than that in addition—if we give you access to that funding, do you suspect you will 

need more than $60 million? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We could depending on the redemption 

rates and—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Give me a worst case scenario. How much more 

money will you need? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I really couldn’t give you that number 

right now. 

Mr. STEARNS. OK. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We will get back to you and provide you 

more detail. We have done studies of how the coupons would cycle 

through, and I would be happy to have the people who worked on 

that sit down with the staff and go through that. 

Mr. STEARNS. Is it possible that the administrative charges could 

be more efficiently implemented so that you wouldn’t need more 

than the—— 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We are looking at that, too. 

Mr. STEARNS. I think you should look at that, too, at this point. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. My preference would be not to have to ask 

for money, quite frankly. 

Mr. STEARNS. OK. Chairman Martin, thank you for being here 

and let me compliment you again, as I did in the opening statement, for this demonstration, just quickly how you feel about the 

demonstration. Do you think there is going to be any problem or 

are you going to take heat for something that is a great idea that 

didn’t work perfectly when you were actually just—we all suspect 

there are going to be problems, so that is why we are doing a demonstration. 

Mr. MARTIN. Sure, I am anxious about both the experiment in 

Wilmington and about the ultimate transition. I think both of them 

face the same kind of challenges in making sure that we have informed everyone to the maximum extent possible and that we have 

gotten everyone as prepared as possible. So I am anxious about 

both. But I do think that we will be able to take and learn some 

important lessons about what is most effective in educating conVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00093 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
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sumers and also some of the technical questions that have been 

asked about things like the antenna reach—I mean the power—the 

reach of the digital broadcast stations and whether people need 

new antennas or not. I think both of those will be able to be informed by the experiment that we are undergoing. 

So, sure, I am anxious about it, but I think it is an important 

effort. 

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, if you are looking for another city 

after Wilmington, North Carolina, you can go to Jacksonville, Florida. It is a little larger city, but I think they would be willing to 

take that opportunity, too. 

Mr. MARTIN. We have—I believe there were seven or eight markets we identified as being prepared, and we actually contacted 

them and we actually contacted several markets in Florida. I would 

be happy to share that with you. I think Jacksonville may have 

been one of them. But there was actually no other market that was 

willing to at the time. But we would be happy to work with you. 

If we can get them to go through it as well, we would be happy 

to. 

Mr. STEARNS. OK. Well, I will contact them. I have a little longer 

question. I am glad you pulled the AWS-3 item from tomorrow’s 

FCC open meeting. I think I am concerned that you are perhaps 

moving down a path that is similar to what I talked about with the 

700 megahertz auction. I think at least the people I have talked 

to acknowledge that by conditioning some of the 700 megahertz 

spectrum largely on a business model, and many of us think these 

business models were implemented or proposed by Google or Frontline, and I think you decrease the revenue by doing that as much 

as $10 billion and perhaps hurt our goal of finding a private partner to build out a public safety network spectrum cleared by the 

DTV legislation, as we predicted in our letter that at that time 

Chairman Barton—or Mr. Barton of Texas, the ranking member on 

our committee, sent to you and which I signed. In the AWS-3 auction, you were once again considering conditions largely tailored to 

one business model this time as proposed by M2Z. We don’t think 

this is necessarily appropriate. It sets up winners and losers. It will 

reduce revenue. What we need to do is to help build out a public 

safety network, especially if the D-block re-auction fails again. 

So I guess the question is, do you agree? If you do, will you commit to move on the AWS-3 spectrum until we—will you commit not 

to move, not to move on the AWS-3 spectrum until we see what 

happens in the D-block re-auction? 

Mr. MARTIN. I think that in the last few years, we have made 

significant strides in broadband deployment. But I do think that we 

should also recognize that there are additional things we could end 

up doing to try to make sure we are facilitating the broadband 

availability and broadband affordability to people throughout the 

country. I think that to the extent that there were companies that 

were willing to bid on and off for our broadband service in this 

spectrum and at the same time reserve a piece of that spectrum to 

offer free broadband throughout the country, I think that would 

have a significant public interest benefit and be able to be a lifeline 

broadband service. It would be at slower speeds than you might be 

able to get otherwise. It would be more like the dial-up speeds 

89 

probably of today in comparison to what the commercial providers 

would be offering. But I think if someone was willing to make that 

kind of a commitment as part of their going forward, I think that 

is a significant public interest benefit that I don’t—I think the 

Commission should take into account. 

I think it is also important to recognize that while the people 

who are proposing that as their—that we should include that as a 

condition. That is being opposed by the traditional industry players 

but the traditional industry players are actually wanting us to encumber the spectrum in other ways that actually make it conducive 

to their business model. They want us to put certain power limits 

on it and make it just basically available only for one-way distribution of service. So the only people that would be able to really take 

advantage of the AWS spectrum would be whoever owned the spectrum right next door in that geographic area. So whoever owned 

the frequency right next door. They really want it to be reserved 

to be able to offer mobile video services, the kind of media flow, 

Qualcomm kind of services. 

So I think that you have got the traditional industry players who 

are also advocating that basically we only have one business model 

for this piece of spectrum. I think that the business model that we 

should be advocating is trying to take into account some kind of a 

lifeline broadband service for consumers. I think that is important, 

and I continue to believe it is an important policy. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from San Antonio, Mr. Gonzalez. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And again, 

I commend you for keeping on top of this situation because I think 

we really need to be prepared for it. I anticipate there will be a real 

avalanche of activity as we move closer to February 17, 2009. And 

if any of the witnesses disagree with me, in a minute I would like 

your opinion as to why you think this situation is not going to get 

worse before it gets better. 

Dr. McGuire-Rivera, you indicated that 42 percent of the first 

800,000 or so of the coupons had been redeemed, less than half. 

And so I want you to kind of walk me through this because my understanding is we are having difficulty stocking some of these converters, especially the pass-through converters, let us say in San 

Antonio where I have one of my local grocery store chains, H-E-B, 

which is a huge, huge presence in Central and South Texas. H-EB alone has sold nearly 19,000 converter boxes. This is a quote. 

About 100 boxes will arrive at the store on Sunday afternoon and 

by Monday afternoon they are gone. Now, they are only selling 

analog pass-through boxes for the obvious reasons in our area, and 

I really do commend them. 

The other thing that I want to also point out to you—and I point 

this out at every hearing—the one thing that all these households 

have in common is electricity. So we have our municipally-owned 

utility company. It is my understanding at this point that they will 

be providing inserts in the monthly bills. So we will be getting into 

those households probably like no other communication will be getting to those households. And so I am strongly encouraging these 

partnerships. I have no idea if we have other areas that are doing 

this. The avalanche of activity is going to be real obvious. If we 

90 

only have half of those that you have already granted the coupons, 

you can imagine what is going to happen. People procrastinate. 

This is human nature. So even those that have applied, have the 

coupons, aren’t acting. Can you imagine the activity come November and December and January? 

So you should be prepared and I don’t want you to be hedging 

that you are going to utilize additional funds and maybe even requesting others. Walk me through this particular scenario. We 

don’t have analog pass-through boxes available like we should, people are behind, they are waiting for the coupons to expire. And I 

think Mr. Stearns may have referred to this. I am not real sure if 

this is what he was describing. I am just looking at the timing of 

redemption. And so they go to the retailer, they don’t have the box. 

They come back, they still don’t have the box. Can the retailer accept the coupon, which I believe is a card or whatever? Do they go 

ahead and swipe that at that point in time, even though they don’t 

have a box, but they will in the future deliver the box? And do they 

then get credit and reimbursement for merchandise which has not 

been delivered or do they wait until they have the box, which may 

go beyond the expiration date? What do we do in those circumstances? How do you understand it? Let us start off with the 

proposition, when do they swipe the coupon card? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. OK. I am glad you asked this question because this is an issue and there are some very important problems 

associated with this. At this point, we encourage a retailer to create a, quote, waiting list. We would prefer that they not swipe the 

card or ask for their $40 from the government until a box is actually available in stock, and I will tell you why. As Representative 

Stupak talked about a vendor mysteriously disappearing from the 

list, we have had to pull about a dozen bad apples out of the barrel. 

And these were retailers that were decertified for essentially doing 

this, taking a coupon, swiping it, essentially taking the consumer 

captive. These boxes never appeared as we looked into it. It was 

clear that the boxes are never going to appear. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. So your answer is you don’t swipe that until you 

have the box in hand and you deliver it? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We prefer that they not swipe until they 

have a box in hand, and certainly we do not want the government 

to give somebody $40 to—— 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And that makes perfect sense and we would probably be all over you if you were doing it otherwise. The problem 

in the practical application is that we don’t have the boxes available in those locations that are being frequented and the redemption is really taking place. It may not be RadioShack or Best Buy 

in San Antonio or in south Texas. That is a very real concern. The 

other thing is those individuals whose coupons have expired, they 

cannot reapply; is that correct? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. That is correct, yes. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. So they have lost their chances. Now, I have a 

sense that that is probably not going to happen throughout. I 

mean, I think if we have 58 percent of 800,000 that did not, they 

are now ineligible for any kind of governmental assistance. And I 

don’t—I am not real sure that is going to play out all the way 

91 

through the 17th of February. I think we are going to run into 

some real serious problems. 

Chairman Martin, the other issue. I think we are going to have 

the avalanche of activity. If you all disagree, tell me that it is only 

going to lessen in number and scope as we go along the process. 

There is the other issue. And if I can find my newspaper article 

that I wanted to read—from which I wanted to read, and that was 

regarding the quality of the signal and the other problem that we 

are going to have. And this is from a May 20, 2008, Washington 

Post story by Kim Hart. And you are very familiar because I believe that you may be cited—that you are cited here. What new 

digital audiences have to fear is the digital cliff or the all or nothing quality of digital reception. The picture is excellent until the 

signal weakens or is interrupted, causing the picture to disappear. 

And it is more sensitive to interference from hills, trees, buildings 

and bad weather than traditional analog reception. An analog picture degrades gradually. You get more static and snow as signals 

weaken. Then we have a quote—consumer advocates say the Federal agencies in charge of the digital transition have not informed 

consumers of potential reception gaps which will cause more frustration when the switch happens. What is of great concern to me 

is a quote from Mr. Oded Bendov, who is President of TV Transmission Antenna Group, who said that about half of the viewers 

who now receive analog channels will not reliably receive all of 

their digital replacements and that viewers more than 40 miles 

from a broadcast tower would probably need new equipment. 

Now, I do want to concentrate on the avalanche of activity—don’t 

get me wrong—but then we are going to have this secondary issue 

that is going to be huge once people do get the converter boxes and 

we are trying to respond to these complaints. And I would like your 

views and comments regarding this particular story. 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, first I would say that our engineers estimate 

that there will only be about 5 percent of the population that would 

currently be able to receive the analog signals who might be adversely impacted by that digital—by the transition to a digital signal. So it is not nearly the percentage they are talking about in 

that article. And that even then, of those 5 percent, it would only 

be that percentage of the population that doesn’t subscribe to cable 

or satellite. So it would really be somewhere closer to 15 percent 

of 5 percent, or less than 1 percent of the people who would be adversely impacted. 

The other—when you refer to the Kim Hart article that you did, 

if you actually go back and look at the hard copy of that article, 

the picture that was associated with it, with the—describing the 

person who was not able to receive their signal, his antenna is covered with tin foil and the reason why their antenna is covered with 

tin foil is probably because they really couldn’t receive very well 

the analog signal. When you are talking about the impact of the 

digital transition, you have to compare what their analog signal is 

today to what their digital signal will be tomorrow using the same 

antenna. Many of the studies that estimate—for example, the centrist study, that estimates it will have a much more significant impact, change antennas in the middle of the study. They say if there 

is a rooftop antenna with an—receiving an analog signal and if you 

92 

take a rabbit ear type of antenna and put it on the roof, what will 

be the impact? Well, of course, if you change antennas in the middle of the study, a significantly less number of viewers will be able 

to watch the television. But our engineers do not estimate that it 

will be like that. Again, if you go back and look at the picture in 

that article, you can see the tin foil covering that antenna. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Upton. 

Mr. UPTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, I appreciate the 

testimony of all of our witnesses and I would have to say that 

every member on this subcommittee certainly knows something 

about customer relations as we deal with the 650,000 people that 

we represent and as we try to walk them through issues, particularly on casework where they might feel wronged and we try to 

lend a helping hand to correct things. And I am just interested, Dr. 

McGuire-Rivera, about how are the consumers themselves feeling 

about the process? What type of feedback have you heard from 

folks that are using the coupons? Are things going relatively 

smoothly? Have you had a number of major inquiries from the retailers or the customers saying that the system is broken and 

needs to be fixed? Are folks generally happy? Is it working fairly 

well? What is your—what is the happy quotient here? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I think the happy quotient is pretty good. 

When they call us, of course, they are not calling us to tell us they 

are happy. But we really get very few complaints and a lot of the 

consumer problems frankly that get funneled to us get funneled 

through your offices. Thank you very much, though. So I would say 

while we do get some complaints, I think we had about 100 complaints called in to us over a 2-month period and considering we 

are getting 104,000 coupon requests a day, the happy quotient is 

pretty good, and we are doing everything we can to take care of the 

consumer complaints. 

Mr. UPTON. Those 100 complaints or so that you have gotten, are 

they more on the retailer end, they don’t have the right box or 

don’t know how to hook it up? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. No. Most of them really when they call us, 

they either had some problems with getting their application 

through basically. We do not get a lot of complaining about the box. 

Mr. UPTON. Now, what happens to someone that applied for that 

coupon early and for whatever reason didn’t go to the retailer, perhaps the retailer didn’t have a box. But let us say they didn’t go 

and the coupon is expired and they said, well, this is my opportunity now to go and, gosh, maybe I wasn’t aware that it was going 

to expire and I wouldn’t have the chance to reapply for another 

coupon? Have you received any calls or complaints from folks that 

might be a little angry about that? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We get a few, but there is not a ground 

swell of that. 

Mr. UPTON. And how many of those are there of the 100 or so? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Of the 100 or so? Twenty, probably. 

Mr. UPTON. And is there a routine or standard that you go 

through with the folks? 

93 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. At this point, we are not allowing reissues. And a lot of this has to do with the fact that we really are 

pushing for people to buy their boxes now. I think if we told people 

now, oh, if you forgot to use your coupon, that doesn’t matter because we will get you another coupon. First, the cost of reissuing 

coupons—I can’t give you an exact dollar figure, but I can guarantee you it is breathtaking because we have talked to IBM about 

that. But it is very important that people get out there now and 

not wait until February. And allowing a reissue would have a 

backup in January and February that I think would create probably more problems than what we are trying to solve with the reissue. We are looking at it, but right now we are holding back on 

saying whether or not we would reissue a coupon. 

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Martin and Mr. Goldstein, I don’t know if you 

looked at this at all, but of the folks that will require a new box 

or a box to be able to get a signal, do we know what percentage 

of those folks have decided instead of going to look for—to make 

application for the card and go to a retailer, how many folks in 

terms of numbers would actually say, well, maybe this is the time 

to sign up for cable or satellite and just forget this rabbit ears 

thing? Do we have any estimate in terms of the migration from 

folks into those two services? 

Mr. MARTIN. We don’t yet. I mean, we know approximately how 

many households today do not subscribe to cable or satellite. It is 

about 15 percent. But we don’t know—we haven’t seen any change 

in that, but we will be on the look for it as we go forward. But we 

don’t have any estimates of that yet. 

Mr. UPTON. And, Mr. Goldstein, when you did your study—I 

know it was done at the end of February. So it was really a little 

bit before the word really got out. 

Mr. GOLDSTEIN. That is right. This particular edition of the survey, we did not ask that question. It is a very good question, 

though. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. You just used 

the word ‘‘breathtaking’’ in terms of the amount of money it would 

cost. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. To reissue, yes, sir. 

Mr. MARKEY. What is the number next to breathtaking? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Maybe two or three times what it costs to 

do an average coupon, because you have to go in and rebuild the 

system. 

Mr. MARKEY. Very interesting. The Chair recognizes the 

gentlelady from California, Ms. Eshoo. 

Ms. ESHOO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. McGuire-Rivera, 

given the last line of questioning and the number of people that 

have participated and what you said earlier about having to request more money, at what point will NTIA make an assessment 

that there is some trigger mechanism to have this occur? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. My estimate is that we will know—we will 

have firm figures in July. I mean, this is not something that we 

are going to be coming back to you in November. 

Ms. ESHOO. Don’t come back in August, because we won’t be 

here. Wait until September. 

94 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. During the summer, I think all of us will 

have worked through this. We are working very closely with IBM 

on what we can do to make changes in the system. I believe at the 

last hearing they said everything is technically possible, but there 

is a cost both in terms of time and money at this point in the program. So we are considering everything. We will work with you to 

make sure that we can make as many consumers happy as we can. 

Ms. ESHOO. I don’t recall the rationale for setting up the coupons 

to expire and some of the downsides that have been pointed out to 

that. What was the rationale for setting it up that way? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Well, it is statutory. It was in the statute. 

I don’t pretend to speak—but I have a feeling that it was set up 

along with the early start in January to move people through the 

process of getting coupons and getting boxes and being ready long 

before February 17, 2009. 

Ms. ESHOO. Can you remind us how many have applied for a 

coupon and the coupons have expired because they haven’t gotten 

the goods? Do you have any sense of that or does—— 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We have 800,000 that have expired. And 

so there would be what—my math is not so good anymore. 58 percent of those people decided not to use the coupon for one reason 

or another. 

Ms. ESHOO. I see. Chairman Martin, there has been a lot of news 

on the AWS-3 auction and the rules that are on circulation at the 

Commission and our colleague from Florida made mention of it. I 

would like to point out a couple of things here. And that is that 

70 percent of the spectrum, the 700 megawatts auction went to two 

companies. Two, not 20. Verizon and AT&T. And I think that what 

it points out is that we need competition. We need real competition. 

In order for broadband to be broad and deep and pervasive in the 

country, I think that we need competition. So my only question to 

you is, when do you expect the rules to be voted on at the Commission? 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, I had originally put them on for the vote for 

tomorrow’s meeting. Some of the commissioners continue to have 

some questions about it. So I would like to move forward with that 

in July. I think it is important for us to try to move forward and 

put the spectrum out and available. And I would like to try to move 

forward in July as soon as I can get the support of at least a majority of the Commission. 

Ms. ESHOO. Well, I think that is good news for the country. To 

the Chairman again, do you think that broadcasters—I made a 

statement about the—what broadcasters had promised. And in my 

view, the promise that they made is really an overstatement of 

their vision of how broadcasting would change after the digital 

transition. Do you think that they overstated their vision? 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, I certainly think that our policies haven’t as 

a total—and we haven’t encouraged the broadcasters to take full 

advantage of the multicasting opportunities. You know, if you look 

at the transition and what has occurred abroad in the Berlin example for—that GAO had done a study on it originally and that— 

when we focused on some of the lessons learned from there, one of 

the significant benefits from the consumer perspective was broadcasters beginning to do multicasting. And that would mean that 

95 

consumers even without buying a new TV, if they just got a converter box, would be able to receive multiple channels. I think that 

that was the emphasis or lack of emphasis on trying to facilitate 

multicasting. I think it hasn’t achieved all of the benefits from the 

consumer perspective. 

Ms. ESHOO. Are you open to examining public interest obligations relative to licenses? 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, I think that the Commission has taken steps 

on the public interest obligations in general. I mean—so I certainly 

am open to it. We adopted new rules last fall on the enhanced disclosure of exactly what they were doing from the local public affairs 

programming. We actually adopted an MPRM that said we were 

going to require them to do more local content and a certain significant amount of local public affairs content. 

Ms. ESHOO. It is tied to their licenses? 

Mr. MARTIN. It would be tied to their licenses. That has been 

very controversial. There are many Members of Congress who have 

written to me opposing that. But I have said that I feel like we 

should have some minimum amount of localism that they should 

be required to do. I am concerned that—I would say the one area 

that concerns me is when you talk about getting into election law 

or free time for candidates. That has been very controversial. I was 

at the Commission when the Commission actually talked about 

doing that before. There were many Members of Congress very 

upset about that, including the chairman of this committee at the 

time. So certainly on the localism front, I have been open to reopening that issue. 

Ms. ESHOO. Thank you 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon, Mr. Walden. 

Mr. WALDEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of questions. One following up, Dr. McGuire-Rivera, about this 

notion of retailers swiping the card but not having the boxes. Do 

you have regulatory authority to prohibit that by rule? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I don’t believe we do. 

Mr. WALDEN. Would you like that authority? I mean, it is kind 

of a swipe and run. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. It wouldn’t hurt. 

Mr. WALDEN. All right. If you could, because that troubles me 

that—— 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I also want you to know that this is not 

a huge problem. The vast majority of the retailers are great citizens, but there are a small number—— 

Mr. WALDEN. That is always the issue. It is that 10 or 5 percent 

that cause a bad name for everybody. But it just seems like if they 

are able to hold that constituent—consumer hostage and not deliver, that is not fair either. And perhaps it is a rule that says if 

the consumer can go back and unswipe or something. I don’t know 

how the technology works. They ought to be able to be freed from 

their bondage from a retailer who is not participating properly. 

I want to follow up, too, on the issue of translators. I have a very 

rural district, lots of mountains and hills. And Chairman Martin 

and Mr. Goldstein, perhaps you can talk about any issues you are 

seeing out there. A lot of the viewers of television in Oregon—and 

96 

rural Oregon, especially—rely on translators. Can you give me an 

assurance that on February 17, 2009, they are still going to be able 

to get a signal the way they are today? And if not, why and what 

do we need to do about it? 

Mr. MARTIN. As you even mentioned in your opening statement, 

these are low power issues and the translator issues were something that—and the fact that there was some of—initially some of 

the boxes did not have that capability and actually all of the boxes 

did not have the capability is a significant problem. There are certainly about—I think the estimate is around 24 boxes or almost 2 

dozen boxes that now have that pass-through capability. It will be 

important for consumers in your areas to make sure they are getting the pass-through boxes. 

Mr. WALDEN. Because they will need that to receive—— 

Mr. MARTIN. They will need it in order to still receive those analog signals. Now, we are working with both the translators and 

with the low power community to try to put forth rules that say 

how are they going to make the transition. As you know, they are 

allowed to transition over to digital, but they are not required to. 

The Commission does need to start focusing on the rules and the 

requirements for making sure that they move in the digital era as 

well. But that will take several years to ultimately require them 

to do that. So we are making some progress. 

Mr. WALDEN. So there is going to still be analog broadcasting 

going on via translator signals? 

Mr. MARTIN. All of the forms of low power television, which includes the translators. 

Mr. WALDEN. And that includes translators. And given the concern raised by my colleague from Texas, Mr. Gonzalez, about the 

way digital just drops off, with an analog signal you can continue 

to get it even when it is not good. You get the ghosting and the 

shadowing and everything else. With digital, you either have it or 

you don’t, right? 

Mr. MARTIN. That is right. 

Mr. WALDEN. So have your certified smart engineers done studies to indicate where people are going to have problems and where 

they are not, digital versus analog, especially in this environment? 

Mr. MARTIN. They have. That is why they have come up with it 

should impact less than 1 percent of the people. It is about 5 percent of the population. But then of course—of those 5 percent, 

which ones subscribe to cable? But those are just the best engineering estimates from our models. We are—one of the benefits of the 

Wilmington transition is we will be able to actually go and make 

sure we understand the full impact of the transaction from analog 

to digital. We have engineers actually down there now. And we 

will—to be able to study that—— 

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Chairman, if your engineers have any of those 

sorts of shadowing maps or whatever they call them in the digital 

environment for Oregon, for example, that would be really helpful 

for me to see. I would be curious to know where the calls are going 

to start coming. 

Mr. MARTIN. I have asked the engineers to try to put together 

those kind of maps. We would be prepared to provide them to everyone. So I have already asked them to start trying to study that. 

97 

I do think we want to make sure that we understand the exact 

technical parameters, and I think Wilmington will help us do that. 

But we will provide that information. 

Mr. WALDEN. Doctor, did you—— 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I just wanted to note we have another program, a $65 million upgrade program for low power and translator 

stations which we know—we attended the national translator 

meeting, and many of these operators are very eager to make the 

transition. We have a technical correction that we have proposed 

that would allow us to give money out earlier, give it out in 2009 

to help these people actually make the transition. So we are asking 

people to—— 

Mr. WALDEN. What is the status of that technical correction? Because I think that takes an act of Congress to fix. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Yes, it was in the Senate. I don’t think 

anyone has offered anything in the House yet. 

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Chairman, is there opportunity in this community to fix that problem? 

Mr. MARKEY. Could you state the problem? 

Mr. WALDEN. Yeah. The problem is in the original bill, there was 

$65 million set aside to help with the transition for translators and 

low power broadcasters. But in a deft budgetary move, it takes 

place in a different year than when it is needed. It actually needs 

to be moved back into a year where it will make sense for the transition. 

Mr. MARKEY. I think that it is important for you and I and the 

other members to work together on that issue. You are right. You 

have put your finger on a problem. 

Mr. WALDEN. All right. Thank you. Thank you. I guess my time 

has expired. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Stupak. 

Mr. STUPAK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. McGuire-Rivera, if 

I may, right now, as I said in my opening, I have stores in my district that are out of converter boxes, have no idea when they will 

get new ones. This is particularly frustrating because the stores 

don’t know when they will get a new converter box in. Isn’t the 

NTIA supposed to coordinate the distribution of coupons with the 

inventory in stock to the areas that receive them? Do you coordinate at all with the stores? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Initially in the initial release of the coupons—in fact, we waited until the end of February to make sure 

boxes were available. We have not heard from retailers except on 

an anecdotal and incidental basis. And unfortunately in your district, that—boxes are unavailable. We do understand that over the 

summer there may be some problems. And I believe some of the 

retailers will talk about—— 

Mr. STUPAK. There are problems right now. We don’t have to 

wait until summer. They are occurring right now in my district. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. And I have a feeling that boxes are being 

sent to Petoskey now. 

Mr. STUPAK. To stores that don’t exist. 

98 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We had talked about that. The stores that 

don’t exist and vendors that were on the list, we had decertified 

about a dozen bad apple retailers just for that type of action. 

Mr. STUPAK. So what are you saying now, you are sending out 

information that has bad apples on it? When you send a converter 

box program—coupon program you list right here on the bottom 

part the stores. And how are these stores making it on there if they 

don’t exist? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. The stores—when you get on the list, you 

are certified. You certify that you are going to participate. 

Mr. STUPAK. How do you certify a store that doesn’t exit? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. When we hear a complaint from someone 

that in fact this retailer no longer exists or this retailer took my 

coupon and no box ever materialized and there is not one in sight, 

the enforcement action that we have is to decertify them from the 

program. 

Mr. STUPAK. OK. But it doesn’t help the consumer. We wrote to 

you back in February. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. The ones we have decertified, we have 

tried to help make the consumers whole because they have been— 

they are essentially—— 

Mr. STUPAK. Why don’t you have the retailers do as RadioShack 

was willing to do for the gentleman in my district and just accept 

the coupons and then when they get the converter boxes they can 

send the converter boxes to the constituent. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. That is why we have recommended that 

they not swipe the cards. Unfortunately, some have been bold 

enough to ask for reimbursement for boxes that never existed. 

Mr. STUPAK. We are not asking for reimbursement. We are asking for the box which doesn’t exist in our district. So why can’t a 

store take your little coupon here that you send them and hold it 

until a converter box comes and then the constituent can go back 

instead of getting the run around? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. What happens—I mean, there is no reason 

why the merchant cannot put that person on a waiting list. The 

unfortunate problem that we have had is of people swiping the 

boxes and then holding the consumer hostage for a box that never 

appears, which is why we discourage merchants from swiping the 

coupon. 

Mr. STUPAK. Why do they have to swipe it? Why can’t they just 

hold the coupon—— 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. They can put the consumer’s name on a 

list and the consumer can hold the coupon. We still want them— 

the consumer—we are seeing instances where people are taking the 

coupons and holding the consumer hostage. 

Mr. STUPAK. A coupon is only good for 90 days. So If you can’t 

get a box within that 90-day period, what good is this? Why don’t 

we just extend the expiration date past that 90 days? You certainly—NTIA certainly has discretion underneath the law as written. 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Well, we have some lawyers who might 

argue that. In fact, we had just discussed that. We right now are 

looking into the issue of reissuing. It is a situation that, one, it 

is—— 

99 

Mr. STUPAK. Well, I and Mr. Engel and this committee wrote to 

you in February asking you to extend the expiration date because 

we are seeing problems. It is now June, almost 4 months later. 

When are we going to get an answer on extending the expiration 

date so we don’t run into trouble, especially since we know stores 

don’t have enough converter boxes available? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. OK. We will have firm redemption 

rates—— 

Mr. STUPAK. When will you have that? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. In July 1st. 

Mr. STUPAK. So this one expires June 30th. So you are going to 

have an order out. So this individual will know on July 1st that 

his coupon has been extended so he can get his box? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. But—an order, most likely not. 

Mr. STUPAK. No, you are not going to have it ready for July 1st. 

When are you going to have it ready? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. What I think what we can do is in your 

district is make sure those boxes are there. 

Mr. STUPAK. Not just my district, but the rest of the country. 

And I appreciate your willingness to make sure my district is taken 

care of. But if Mr. Markey holds his sixth hearing in 90 days from 

now, I will be back here asking you the same question. So when 

are you going to make a decision on extending the coupons past the 

90-day period? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. When we look at the redemption rates. 

And most likely we will make the decision—— 

Mr. STUPAK. When will that be? When can we expect that decision? We know it won’t be July 1st. When can we expect that decision to be made? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I would say later in the summer. 

Mr. STUPAK. And later in the summer, can you narrow that 

down, August, September, September 20th, last day of summer. 

Can you give me something a little more definite? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Nope. I will get back to Mr. Baker and we 

will give you a date. 

Mr. STUPAK. I was just warming up, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. Listen, you have got us all warming up here. You 

are hitting on a very sensitive hot point and we thank you for that. 

The gentleman’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. Terry. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. I appreciate that. I am going to be all 

over and I have got different questions for different folks here. And 

I will try to use my time wisely. First of all, I just want to start 

off by making an observation that I thought was interesting back 

when Tom Osborne, three national championships in Nebraska, decided to run for Congress and he did a poll and found out that he 

had 94 percent name recognition. Most of us in the political world 

would love to have 94 percent. But in the State of Nebraska, for 

6 percent not to know who Tom Osborne is, is really incredible. I 

mean, this is a State where every schoolchild gives the pledge of 

allegiance to start the schoolday and then goes into the pledge to 

Tom Osborne. And—— 

Mr. GREEN. Or at least to the Corn Huskers. 

100 

Mr. TERRY. Well, we made it more specific after the second national championship. So my point with this analogy is no matter 

how hard we try, we are simply—we could spend billions and trillions and we are still not going to get to 100 percent. But I would 

have to say my observation is that at least in my area, there are 

as many DTV commercial—DTV transition PSAs and commercials—as there are car ads. Now, if you watch TV, there is no way 

not to know of this DTV transition. 

Now, Dr. McGuire-Rivera and Mr. Goldstein hit on two subgroups that I think we really need to focus on. When I talked to 

Rotaries and asked them to raise hands, 100 percent raised hands 

that they know the details of the transition. But how about with 

seniors and minorities? Now, obviously there is more going on than 

just what the FCC is doing. So I am going to ask all three of you, 

starting with the Chairman, are you calculating what the local 

broadcasters are doing by way of outreach to the two communities 

that are most at risk, which is the foreign speaking and the elderly? And do you know what they are doing on the grassroots local 

level? 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, we certainly—we are aware that all of the 

broadcasters have to either opt into the NAB’s plan for what they 

are going to be doing at their local level, which involves certain 

kind of requirements or our own specific requirements. But neither 

of those two platforms require anything for foreign language—for 

Spanish speakers or foreign languages at the local level. So we 

know that they have one of two options in terms of educating consumers in terms of the number of PSAs. And under ours, it increases over time. They also have got 100-day countdown under the 

NAB plan. But we don’t—and we know that goes on at the grassroots level, but we don’t know that as far as—— 

Mr. TERRY. So you don’t know that the broadcasters in Omaha, 

Nebraska, have done Spanish town hall meetings, that they do advertising in Spanish on the Spanish speaking radio and low-power 

broadcaster? 

Mr. MARTIN. We know if there are Spanish language broadcasters they are required to be doing that, including in Spanish. 

But we don’t know if the ones that are broadcasting in English 

have also run a Spanish PSA as opposed to just an English PSA. 

Mr. TERRY. Well, they are doing a great job. And my guess is 

that—was it you, Dr. McGuire-Rivera, that said that 42 percent of 

the calls coming in are Spanish speaking? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Yes. About 40 percent are Spanish speaking. 

Mr. TERRY. To me that says we were probably making an impact 

into that community, that if 42 percent of the calls—are you able 

to gauge the impact that all of these efforts are having within a 

specific community? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Well, we looked within each DMA and we 

can tell when coupon requests will go up. I think I had mentioned 

before, we work very closely with Univision that does not just do 

PSAs, but they do specials. And, in fact, we have to know about 

their specials because the call center volume—— 

Mr. TERRY. Does that mean no? I don’t want to be rude. I just 

asked if you are able to quantify. 

101 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Yes, we can look within each DMA and 

see if coupon requests go up. That is sort of the—— 

Mr. TERRY. So that is your marker. Mr. Goldstein, have you guys 

looked into that specifically? 

Mr. GOLDSTEIN. Not this report, but the ongoing work that we 

are still doing for the committee, we are looking at consumer 

awareness and consumer education programs and how effective 

they are, and we are looking at a variety of different avenues 

that—— 

Mr. TERRY. Any preliminary thoughts then? 

Mr. GOLDSTEIN. At this point, I don’t. We haven’t analyzed it sufficiently. But we will get back to the committee obviously later— 

probably early this fall—with that information. 

Mr. TERRY. OK. I appreciate that. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green. 

Mr. GREEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Rivera, you heard my 

opening statement, both the Chair of the FCC and Chairwoman 

Martin, that tropical storm hurricane issue and emergencies, has 

that come up either at the FCC or at NTIA about what we can do 

about battery-operated and digital? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We have talked about that a lot. It is a 

great concern. Right now my understanding is that there is not a 

converter for a battery-operated television. When you think about 

the practicality of hooking a converter—a big converter on a little 

TV—now perhaps by next year there would be one, although—I 

think this is important. FEMA is one of the organizations that we 

work with, because I think the word needs to get out that people 

who are really dependent on these battery-operated televisions 

need to look into getting a digital one. I know that sounds—but 

right now, particularly with the hurricane season coming up—and 

I think this is going to be one of the things that we are going to 

learn a lot about in Wilmington, because they will make the transition in September and that will be hurricane season. 

Mr. GREEN. And I appreciate my colleague from Nebraska concerning the large percentage of calls that seem to be regarding the 

coupon program are non-English. Do you have information on the 

actual numbers and does NTIA have sufficient staff to assist these 

individuals? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. I don’t have exact figures on the number 

of calls. I can get those for you. As I noted, we have backup call 

centers. And particularly when Univision does a special, we will 

have additional Spanish speaking callers. In the very beginning of 

the program, we were really surprised at how many of them were. 

And I realized at that time that we did not have enough and now 

we are up to speed and staffed up on the Spanish call center. 

Mr. GREEN. Because I know not only from Nebraska, but California and of course in Texas we have the same situation. And I 

know last Saturday there was a huge event in Houston. Univision 

has been doing very well. In fact, Univision, Telemundo, and our 

Spanish stations, along with my English stations, are trying to 

make—get that word out for folks. So I am glad to hear that that 

is happening. 

102 

One other question. Under the bill that passed in Congress in 

2004, the first 990 million dedicated to the coupon program is open 

enrollment where the final 510 million is dedicated to coupons exclusively for broadcast-only households. Would NTIA be basing the 

eligibility cut-off on the 990 million applications or the actual redemptions? I guess that is the issue, the percentage of nonredemption. I know it is still out there for that—what is left of the 90 days 

for those particular cards, but is that going to be an issue and has 

that been contemplated? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We are looking at that very closely. Basi- cally it would be when the first $890 million is gone as redeemed 

coupons is when it would start. There will be periods we believe— 

we should get toward the end of the year—where there will be 

enough redeemed and some out in the street that we might have 

to go into that contingent pool while we are waiting for some other 

ones to come back in. And we will get back with you as our plans 

become more final on this. And again we are doing this now. We 

will be back to you soon on exactly how—we would like to do it in 

a way that is seamless so the consumer doesn’t really know if the 

redemption rates stay the same. 

Mr. GREEN. And I know you haven’t decided yet because the public comment period just ended. But on the issue of dealing with 

P.O. boxes and nursing homes or senior citizen centers, assisted 

living locations, things like that that may have one address, but is 

that something that will be dealt with fairly quickly? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. That will be dealt with absolutely as 

quickly as we can. The rulemaking closed last night. 

Mr. GREEN. OK. Mr. Chairman, I hate to not address the Chair 

of the FCC, but welcome back before our subcommittee. 

Mr. MARTIN. Thank you. I appreciate it. I certainly think of the 

issues that you raise. I think the one that relates to battery-operated portable televisions is one we have heard significant concern 

about. There are no boxes yet that can be battery operated so that 

the only option for consumers today would be able to go buy a new 

digital portable television. Apparently there are some of the boxes 

that can operate from an external car battery, 12-volt car battery. 

You can plug it in the car, but then you have to put the TV in the 

car and working. I think today consumers would have to go get a 

new digital battery-operated television. I think that is one of the 

things we have heard a lot of concern from consumers and particularly in Wilmington as well. 

Mr. GREEN. Mr. Chairman, I would hope at our next hearing we 

could discuss that. Between now and then, we will find out from 

our information what is available in the market for both the hopefully lower priced battery-operated DTVs for the next hurricane 

season, not this one. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Radanovich. 

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for this 

hearing. And to you, panel, welcome to the Committee hearing. I 

do have a question for Dr. McGuire-Rivera. Doctor, can you explain—I know you went into this a little bit earlier in your opening 

remarks and such—but what the NTIA is doing to prepare for the 

September 8th Wilmington test? 

103 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. We are working actively with the FCC to 

get ready for that test and learn all we can about what will happen 

the last 100 days. We have reworked a set of materials that is on 

our Web site and the materials we ordinarily use changing the date 

from February 17th to September 8, 2008. We are going to start 

working the messages down there that we would use in the 100 

days before February 17th to fine-tune those. And we are also 

using that to get some hands-on experience. For example, we are 

going down this week to meet directly with senior groups and visit 

nursing homes on how to handle those situations there. 

Mr. RADANOVICH. Thank you. And on a national level, just let me 

know if these numbers are correct because I have got a list of 

things that the NTIA has certified. At least according to my information, the NTIA has certified 1,800 retailers with more than 

19,000 store locations to accept your coupons? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. That is correct. 

Mr. RADANOVICH. And the coupons can also—consumers can redeem the coupons from 19 online retailers? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Correct. 

Mr. RADANOVICH. And also 7 telephone retailers as well? 

Ms. MCGUIRE-RIVERA. Yes. 

Mr. RADANOVICH. All right. Thank you very much. I have no 

more questions. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Harman. 

Ms. HARMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you to our 

witnesses. 

Mr. Martin, in my opening remarks I mentioned H.R. 6055, 

which is a bill I introduced really to be a marker to talk about 

whether we should set up a fully transparent relationship between 

the public safety broadband licensee and the Commission. I just 

wonder what your reaction is to the legislation. 

Mr. MARTIN. I certainly think it is important that we have more 

transparency in the broadband public safety licensee. And I think 

it was a concern—when I testified before, I was concerned about 

the fact they could end up having private sector interests with 

some of the money that has been focused on them and with also 

some of their potential partners. So I think that anything would 

end up being helpful. I still believe that a public/private partnership is the only option the Commission has to try to achieve the 

public safety interoperable spectrum build-out that is going to be 

necessary from a public safety standpoint. And as a result, I think 

that that legislation would be helpful. 

Ms. HARMAN. Well, thank you. I also wonder whether just in 

terms of your own rulemaking you could enact a rule that would 

get us to the same place and perhaps reprogram some money or 

whether this is not possible. 

Mr. MARTIN. I think that we can adopt rules that would restrict 

and make transparent their relationship with any private entity, 

but I don’t think we can directly provide them the resources or the 

money. I don’t think that we are allowed to do that. We don’t have 

money that we would be able to provide to anything like that. 

104 

Ms. HARMAN. Well, let me say, Mr. Chairman, that I hope our 

subcommittee will look at this. I know there is interest on a bipartisan basis. I have talked to Mr. Pickering at some length about 

this point because I think it had a lot to do with why—or something to do with why the first auction failed. I would be happy to 

yield. 

Mr. MARKEY. We will do that, yes. 

Ms. HARMAN. Thank you. Moving along, I encourage you to move 

to a second auction. I know you are thinking about many of the 

things I and others have suggested. I wonder if you agree with me 

that without that second auction and without the public/private 

partnership, we won’t get to a place where our public safety providers have a true national interoperable network. What is your 

view? 

Mr. MARTIN. I do agree. I think that without Congress appropriating the direct resources to build a public safety network, the 

only other option I believe is to have a public/private partnership 

where we auction off this spectrum of the requirement that whoever wins this particular piece also be required to build out and 

allow for people to be able to use it. I also agree that I think it is 

important that we try to finish the auction by the date of the transition. At the end of the date of the transition, that spectrum will 

become available and we should make sure that the entities are in 

the position to begin trying to build on it and be able to take advantage of it as quickly as possible. 

Ms. HARMAN. Well, let me just respond to that. My problem with 

plan B, as you just described it, is I don’t think we will get to the 

place we need to get to. I think we need a list of technical specifications, hopefully on the front end so people know what they are bidding on. 

My question to you is, does the FCC have the in-house expertise 

to work on this list of technical specifications as part perhaps of 

the second auction? 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, I think that we do have it from a technical 

perspective just understanding technically what is required. Many 

of the proposals that have come in to us the last time encouraged 

us to defer on what the technical requirements would end up being. 

One of the commitments I made and am dying to move forward 

in the last notice is that we would reach out and try to hire a chief 

technologist to come on board. We have already been in negotiations with trying to end up hiring someone, but I am not sure 

whether we will be successfully able to or not get someone on board 

to take that position. I don’t know in the short run. 

Ms. HARMAN. I hope you are successful. There are other ways to 

do this. Commissioner Copps suggested we set up an outside commission, but I worry that all those ideas will delay us. If working 

in partnership we can come up with the right specifications, come 

up with a transparent system, come up with clear bidding guidelines, I think we can succeed and I feel strongly that we only have 

one more shot at this to get it right. Do you agree with that? 

Mr. MARTIN. I agree and I also think that if we set up a whole 

separate commission to study I think I could end up delaying this 

for quite too long. 

105 

Ms. HARMAN. Well, I thank you, Mr. Martin, and I thank you to 

the other witnesses. Mr. Chairman, the set top boxes and transition rules are very important for consumers, but the most important thing to me and I think many of us is making sure that we 

have one national interoperable communications network, so that 

the next time there is anatural or man-made disaster our communities are safer. 

I yield back. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Deal. 

Mr. DEAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One thing is clear. As we 

have had this series of hearings on the digital transition we have 

moved from theoretical to actual, and many of the questions that 

we heard today are actual problems that we are now hearing from 

constituents about. And I would like to follow up on a question that 

Mr. Gonzalez initiated. This relates to an actual complaint I received from a constituent of mine. It deals with the digital cliff. 

Much of my congressional district is in the mountains of north 

Georgia, most of the over air analog signals are received either 

from Atlanta or Chattanooga. The complaint was an individual who 

received his signal from Atlanta. He got his box, he hooked it up 

and he got nothing. Now, I guess my question is similar to some 

of the ones that have already been asked on this issue, but I would 

like to maybe understand how that plays out a little better. He 

may have been receiving marginal over-the-air signals to begin 

with. I understand that. If it was marginal, I understand he may 

be in that category that would receive nothing. But let me ask you 

about the question that you responded to Mr. Walden about the 

translators. Now, as I understand translators, they are primarily 

associated with low power television transmission; is that correct? 

Mr. MARTIN. That’s right. Translators are a form of the low powered television broadcast. 

Mr. DEAL. Do any of the full power over-the-air stations use the 

translators as a booster or an additional way to bump up their signal in mountainous areas, for example? 

Mr. MARTIN. The TV translators themselves are low powered, but 

they oftentimes are maybe affiliated with providing content on 

other full powered stations. They could be, yes. 

Mr. DEAL. I am back to Mr. Walden’s question about maps. Do 

you have maps that would show areas that might be in those situations? 

Mr. MARTIN. We absolutely do have maps and lists of all of the 

communities that have low powered stations. So we can end up 

providing that. We provided that to the subcommittee staff in the 

past. And we will be happy to provide that specifically for you in 

your district so you can see what low power stations are in your 

district. 

And in reference to the concern that your customer raised in the 

mountain area, in part it may be that the broadcast signals that 

he was receiving from Atlanta in analog, they haven’t completed 

their final construction of their antenna or gone to maximizing 

their power on the digital side. In other words, between now and 

the end of the transition, lots of broadcasters are going to have to 

move their digital antenna from the side where they send out the 

106 

signal from the side of their antenna to the top where the current 

analog is, because they get a better coverage. In particular, if you 

are on the edge of that coverage you may not be getting what you 

are going to get at the end of the transition in terms of the full digital capability. 

So it could be that they bought that box and they hooked it up, 

but if they were on the edge of that signal, the digital signal may 

ultimately replicate that analog signal, but it may not have done 

that just yet. And that could be why. Just because they are not receiving it now doesn’t mean they necessarily won’t by the end of 

the transition. 

Mr. DEAL. Do you have any information as to how far along that 

progression has been made by various stations? 

Mr. MARTIN. Absolutely. We actually know it station by station, 

market by market. When we ask, as I testified before, there were 

about eight markets that were ready to undergo a DTV transition 

test. The rest of the markets all have at least some of their broadcast stations that aren’t yet technically in a position to either have 

all of their facilities or are capable of broadcasting at full power. 

So we do want a market by market, and will be happy to provide 

that to you. 

Mr. DEAL. We will be contacting you to address our constituents’ 

concerns. I presume in spite of all our best efforts there will probably be some individuals that just fall off the edge of that digital 

cliff, am I correct? 

Mr. MARTIN. That is right. There will be some percentage of 

them. We estimate it could impact about 5 percent of the people 

and of course only about 15 percent of the people on average who 

subscribe don’t subscribe to cable or satellite that would be impacted. But yes, there will be some people who will be impacted. 

Mr. DEAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. All time for 

questions of this panel by the subcommittee has been completed. 

We welcome your continued interaction with this subcommittee on 

this issue. You can, I think, sense from the interest level of the 

members that they are now beginning to translate consumer/voter 

interest in this issue and the success with which this program is 

going to be implemented. Time is of the essence. We will be back 

again with another hearing. We really do hope that you have 

solved all the problems before the next hearing so that we can just 

give you all a big pat on the back for the excellent job which you 

are doing. But understand that there is going to be a direct correlation between the numbers of problems solved and the level of intensity which you are going to feel from this side of the panel in 

the next hearing. Congress is a stimulus response institution and 

there is nothing more stimulating than the thought that millions 

of their constituents will not have TV. You almost can’t imagine 

anything short of nuclear war that would draw the attention of the 

American voter. 

So please make sure that you have done everything you can before the next hearing to solve the problems. We thank you all so 

much. 

I now would ask our second panel to come up to the witness 

table. Again, we reconvene the hearing for the purpose of hearing 

107 

from our extremely distinguished second panel. And we are going 

to begin with a return visitor to the subcommittee, somebody who 

has obviously a very, very important job. Mr. Tom Romeo is the Director of Federal Services for Global Business Service for IBM. We 

welcome you back Mr. Romeo and whenever you are ready, please 

begin. 

STATEMENT OF TOM ROMEO, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL SERVICES, 

GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICE, IBM CORPORATION 

Mr. ROMEO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you 

today on the progress the IBM team is making implementing the 

NTIA TV Converter Box Coupon Program. 

Earlier this morning you heard from NTIA Associate Administrator, Dr. McGuire-Rivera, about the continued high level of interest consumers are showing in the coupon program. Over 16 million 

coupons have been ordered as of June 3rd, representing an average 

of 3 million coupons ordered on a monthly basis. 

While the statute allows for coupon requests to be taken between 

January 1st, 2008, and March 31st, 2009, at the current rate of 

public demand we expect to have accepted requests for the initial 

round of 22.25 million coupons by early August of 2008. 

When this milestone is reached a decision needs to be made as 

to whether the program boosts the shipping contingent coupons or 

whether coupons not redeemed during the base funding period will 

be recycled to offer more coupons as part of the base funding period. 

We have made great progress recruiting the voluntary participation of both large national retailers and smaller local retailers, including 19 online retailers and 7 retailers offering a phone order 

option. As of June 3rd there are over 1,800 retailers representing 

more than 19,000 stores nationwide, currently certified in participating in the program. 

Consumer education continues to be a focal point of the program. 

We believe the strong demand for coupons indicates we are on the 

right track. Our partner, Ketchum Public Affairs, continues to lead 

and refine our messaging with particular focus on communities 

with the largest estimated number of over-the-air reliant households. 

Now I would like to take a moment to talk about some of the 

challenges we have faced and important future steps. The accelerated pace of consumer demand has required our team to react 

quickly to pinpoint needed adjustments and implement alternative 

solutions when necessary. For example, when the program 

launched at the start of this year consumers ordered 2.1 million 

coupons during the first week of January. By February 21st, 2008, 

when the first coupons were shipped to consumers, the program 

had processed requests for more than 6 million coupons. These 

numbers far exceeded initial projections. We increased daily and 

weekly coupon distribution capacity to allow for far greater numbers than planned and have now issued more than 15.1 million 

coupons. 

Today a consumer can expect to have their coupons ordered, 

processed, and mailed within 10 to 15 days and to receive the couVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00113 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
108 

pon within 3 to 4 weeks of placing their order. Continued strong 

consumer interest in the coupon program and the DTV transition 

generally has translated to continued high call volumes into the 

consumer call center. The call center handled more than 2 million 

calls during the month of May, with approximately 40 percent of 

those coming from Spanish speakers. 

The Interactive Voice Response, or IVR, system has been able to 

support between 50 to 60 percent of the callers without need for 

a live agent. A very high IVR resolution rate by industry standards. 

Recently, more of the public is calling with questions about the 

program or about the digital transition rather than to request a 

coupon, increasing our need for live operators. We continue to adjust messaging in the IVR system to expedite the coupon ordering 

process, answer as many questions as possible, offer recorded information while callers wait for an agent, and provide a positive experience for the consumers. 

As we plan for the coming months we have identified several 

challenges that need to be addressed. The majority of consumer 

messaging is focused on making sure that consumers understand 

the transition to digital broadcasting will occur on February 17th, 

2009. Consumers who wait until February 17th or later to request 

coupons may not realize that it will take several weeks for the coupons to arrive by mail. Further, if even 1 percent of the public were 

to attempt to order their coupons that day, our telephone and computer systems would be stretched beyond current capacity. 

In light of these sobering scenarios, we are working with our 

partners to adjust public messaging to encourage consumers back 

well in advance of February 17th’s transition date. We will also 

work with NTIA to determine what capacity enhancements are 

prudent in anticipation of spikes in demand for the first quarter of 

2009. 

We are also exploring feasible alternative solutions for consumers who request coupons after the transition date. The IBM 

team is pleased to be part of implementing this vital program and 

recognizes that many challenges remain on the way to February 

17th, 2009. 

Our team continues to be ready to meet those challenges and 

work to ensure that consumers across the United States have continued access to free television broadcasting, including educational, 

entertainment, emergency, and Homeland Security information. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and I will be 

happy to answer any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Romeo follows:] 

STATEMENT OF TOM ROMEO

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity 

to testify before you again on the status of the DTV Transition. My name is Tom 

Romeo and I am Director of Federal Services for IBM’s Global Business Services, 

Public Sector. I am here today to update you on the progress the IBM Team is making implementing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

(NTIA) TV Converter Box Coupon Program. 

109 

BACKGROUND

The Coupon Program, authorized by the Digital Television Transition and Public 

Safety Act of 2005, provides for distribution and redemption of coupons that consumers may apply toward the purchase of certified digital-to-analog converter boxes 

from participating retailers. As you know, this act allows U.S. households to request 

one or two coupons, worth $40 each, to be used toward the purchase of a certified 

converter box. 

Between January 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009, all U.S. households may request up to two coupons, worth $40 each to be used toward the purchase of up to two digital-to-analog converter boxes until all of the 22.25 million coupons allocated under 

the initial phase of the program have been issued. The program then moves to the 

‘‘contingent period’’ which requires 11.25 million coupons to be available exclusively 

to households that rely on over-the-air broadcasting as their sole source of television 

programming. 

PROGRAM GOALS

NTIA awarded IBM the contract to provide services for the TV Converter Box 

Coupon Program on August, 15, 2007. Working within the program parameters, 

IBM designed the NTIA TV Converter Box Coupon Program to be consumer-focused, 

easy to use, and provide maximum choice and access for both consumers and retailers. IBM and its business partners, Ketchum Public Affairs, Epiq Systems, and Corporate Lodging Consultants are providing services in four areas: • Consumer education; 

• Coupon distribution to consumers and redemption; 

• Support for retail store participation; 

•Financial processing to reimburse retailers, and to maintain records. 

Ensuring high retailer participation and satisfaction are essential elements to the 

overall success of the program. Our goal continues to be to successfully communicate 

the details of the TV Converter Box Coupon Program to targeted consumers, distribute coupons, and complete the redemption process efficiently. 

PROGRAM METRICS AND STATUS

On January 1, 2008, the Consumer Support Center opened for business and began 

to take orders from consumers across the Nation for their TV Converter Box Coupons. Consumers are able to order coupons using any of four available options. The 

toll-free phone number (1–888–DTV–2009) is operational 24x7 with live agents 

available to callers. Operators can accommodate requests in more than 150 languages. The toll-free phone option also provides a TTY solution in Spanish and 

English for use by the hearing impaired. Other options to apply for coupons include 

online at www.DTV2009.gov, by mail (P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208–2000), 

and via fax (1–888–DTV–4ME2). Coupon application forms are also available in 

Braille for the visually impaired. 

As we reported to you in February, consumers continue to show great interest in 

the Coupon Program with over 16,038,539 coupons ordered as of June 3, representing an average of more than 3,000,000 coupons ordered on a monthly basis. 

To date, approximately 88.4% of the requesting households have ordered the maximum of two coupons. 

Although the statute allows for coupon requests to be taken between January 1, 

2008 and March 31, 2009, at the current rate of public demand we expect to have 

accepted requests for the initial round of 22,250,000 coupons from the program’s 

base funding of $890 million by early August 2008. When this milestone is reached, 

a decision needs to be made as to whether the program moves to shipping contingent coupons, or whether coupons not redeemed during the base funding period will 

be recycled to offer more than the initial 22,250,000 coupons designated for the base 

funding period. 

In the 118 days since I last came before this committee, I am pleased to report 

that we continued our progress in recruiting the voluntary participation of both 

large national retailers and smaller, local retailers. As of June 3, 2008, 1,819 retailers representing more than 19,440 stores nationwide are currently certified and participating in the program. Seven of the largest consumer electronics retailers—Best 

Buy, Circuit City, K-mart, Radio Shack, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart are among the 

retailers participating in the Coupon Program. This includes locations in all 50 

states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These stores have completed 

certification in the Coupon Program, indicated that their employees are trained, 

have converter box inventory in their stores, and have their point-of-sale systems 

prepared to redeem coupons. Consumers are also able to order converter boxes from 

110 

19 online retailers, or from any of the 7 retailers offering a phone order option. A 

list of all participating retail outlets, searchable by state and 5-digit zip code, can 

be found on www.DTV2009.gov under ‘‘Locate a Retailer Near You.’’ 

We believe the strong demand for coupons indicates we are on the right track educating consumers about the Coupon Program, and we remain focused on intensifying 

consumer education as we head toward February 2009. Our partner, Ketchum Public Affairs, continues to lead the consumer education effort focused on the five communities who most likely rely more heavily on over-the-air broadcasting than the 

general population: 1) senior and older Americans; 2) the economically disadvantaged; 3) rural residents; 4) people with disabilities; and 5) minorities. We continue 

to build and leverage a network of committed partners who already have access to 

many of the population segments we are targeting, and currently work with over 

300 public and private sector partners with ties to senior citizen, rural, and disability communities. The Partnership Toolkit, which includes DTV and Coupon Program background material, fact sheets, posters, sample public service announcements, and presentations, is co-branded for use by partners at a variety of events. 

Also included and used by our partners are specific strategies on how to reach the 

media to effectively deliver the Coupon Program message, and ideas and resources 

for informing consumers through community and in-store events. In addition, our 

work with the media to place stories about the Coupon Program is heavily focused 

not only on national media, but also the television markets that have the largest 

estimated number and percentage of over-the-air reliant households. 

CHALLENGES AND FUTURE STEPS

The accelerated pace of consumer demand has required our team to react quickly 

to pinpoint needed adjustments and implement alternative solutions when necessary. For example, when the program launched at the start of this year, consumers ordered 2,144,632 coupons during the first week of January, representing 

10% of the base funding. By February 21, 2008, when the first coupons were 

shipped to consumers, the program had processed requests for more than 6 million 

coupons. These numbers far exceeded initial projections. We increased our daily and 

weekly coupon distribution capacity to allow for far greater numbers than planned, 

and have now issued more than 14.6 million coupons. Today, a consumer can expect 

to have their coupon order processed and mailed within 10-15 days, and to receive 

their coupon within 3-4 weeks of placing their order. 

Continued strong consumer interest in the Coupon Program (and the DTV Transition generally) has translated to continued high call volumes into the Consumer 

Support Center. The Internet remains the most popular channel, with approximately 57.5% of the requests received via the Internet, followed by 40.1% via the 

telephone, and 2.4% for the mail and fax channels combined. This breakdown has 

remained relatively constant since the program launched in January. The Call Center handled more than 2 million calls during the month of May, with approximately 

40% of those coming from Spanish speakers. The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) 

system has been able to support between 50 and 60% of the callers without the need 

for a live agent, a very high IVR resolution rate by industry standards. Most recently, more of the public is calling with questions about the program or about the 

digital transition rather than to request a coupon, increasing our need for live operators. We continue to adjust messaging on the automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to expedite the coupon ordering process, answer as many questions as possible, offer recorded information while callers wait for an agent, and provide a positive experience for the consumer. 

As we plan for the coming months, we have identified several challenges that 

need to be addressed. The majority of consumer messaging is focused on making 

sure consumers understand the transition to digital broadcasting will occur on February 17, 2009. Consumers who wait until February 17 or after that date to request 

their coupons may not realize that it will take several weeks for their coupons to 

arrive by mail. Further, if even 1% of the public were to attempt to order their coupons that day, our telephone and computer systems would be stretched beyond current capacity. In light of these sobering scenarios, we are working with our partners 

to adjust public messaging to encourage consumers to act well in advance of the 

February 17 transition date. We will also work with NTIA to determine what capacity enhancements are prudent in anticipation of spikes in demand in the first quarter of 2009. We are also exploring feasible alternative solutions for consumers who 

request coupons after the transition date 

The IBM Team is pleased to be part of implementing this vital program and recognizes that many challenges remain on the way to February 17, 2009. Our team 

continues to be ready to meet those challenges and work to ensure that consumers 

111 

across the United States have continued access to free television broadcasting, including educational, entertainment, emergency, and homeland-security information. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and I will be happy to answer any 

questions. 

SUMMARY

Consumers continue to show great interest in the Coupon Program with over 

16,038,539 coupons ordered as of June 3, representing an average of more than 

3,000,000 coupons ordered on a monthly basis. To date, approximately 88.4% of the 

requesting households have ordered the maximum of two coupons. 

Although the statute allows for coupon requests to be taken between January 1, 

2008 and March 31, 2009, at the current rate of public demand we expect to have 

accepted requests for the initial round of 22,250,000 coupons from the Program’s 

base funding of $890 million by early August 2008. 

As of June 3, 2008, 1,819 retailers representing more than 19,440 stores nationwide are currently certified and participating in the program. Consumers are also 

able to order converter boxes from 19 online retailers, or from any of the 7 retailers 

offering a phone order option. 

We believe the strong demand for coupons indicates we are on the right track educating consumers about the Coupon Program, and remain focused on intensifying 

consumer education as we head toward February 2009. 

As we plan for the coming months, we have identified several challenges that 

need to be addressed. The majority of consumer messaging is focused on making 

sure consumers understand the transition to digital broadcasting will occur on February 17, 2009. Consumers who wait until February 17 or after that date to request 

their coupons may not realize that it will take several weeks for their coupons to 

arrive by mail. Further, if even 1% of the public were to attempt to order their coupons that day, our telephone and computer systems would be stretched beyond current capacity. In light of these sobering scenarios, we are working with our partners 

to adjust public messaging to encourage consumers to act well in advance of the 

February 17 transition date. We will also work with NTIA to determine what capacity enhancements are prudent in anticipation of spikes in demand in the first quarter of 2009. We are also exploring feasible alternative solutions for consumers who 

request coupons after the transition date. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, sir. The next is Ms. Kim Cannon, who 

is the Vice President and General Manager for Fayetteville and 

Wilmington, North Carolina Markets for Time Warner Cable. Welcome. 

STATEMENT OF KIM CANNON, VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL 

MANAGER, FAYETTEVILLE/WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA 

MARKETS, TIME WARNER CABLE 

Ms. CANNON. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member 

Stearns, and members of the subcommittee. My name is Kim Cannon, and I am Vice President and General Manager for Time Warner Cable’s Wilmington, North Carolina Cable Systems. As you 

know, the FCC has chosen the Wilmington market as a location for 

the early digital transition trial. Time Warner Cable is the largest 

cable operator in the Wilmington area, serving more than 96,000 

subscribers. I am pleased to have the opportunity to describe for 

you how Time Warner Cable is helping to ensure that the digital 

transition, both nationally and in Wilmington, is successful. 

Today’s hearing is entitled the ‘‘Status of the DTV Transition: 

252 Days and Counting.’’ Of course, for those of us in the Wilmington area it should be only 90 days and counting. Being the 

leading cable operator and the first broadcast television market to 

switch from analog to digital presents some challenges, but Time 

Warner Cable is ready to meet them head on. 

112 

The good news is that television viewers who are connected to 

cable are at no risk of losing access to broadcast television stations. 

Some cable homes have additional sets that rely on over-the-air reception. For that reason last September Time Warner Cable and 

other cable operators launched a $200 million advertising campaign to educate the public about the upcoming broadcast transition and the NTIA’s Converter Box Coupon Program. 

Time Warner Cable itself is devoting over $30 million in resources to promoting the digital transition by running television, 

radio, and print advertisements, posting information on our system 

Web sites, and participating in community events designed to draw 

attention to the transition. Ironically, the success of this information campaign has created one of our biggest challenges in the Wilmington area. Having spent nearly a year telling people that the 

transition will occur on February 17th, 2009, we now have to make 

sure that everyone in the Wilmington market understands that for 

them the transition will occur 5 months earlier. 

In order to meet this challenge, Time Warner Cable is committing additional resources to Wilmington-specific educational efforts. 

The Web site for Wilmington area systems has been updated to 

highlight the new transition date, alternate billing inserts, television spots, radio scripts, newspaper ads, and in-store displays 

have been prepared, trumpeting the fact that the transition will 

occur on September 8th. On-screen crawls directing viewers to our 

Web site for more information about the transition are running on 

various channels, and we have plans to use billboards to inform the 

community as well. In addition, system personnel are participating 

in media interviews and other outreach efforts. For example, our 

Wilmington cable store will be hosting workshops specifically targeting the elderly and minority communities where local broadcasters are invited to participate. 

Time Warner Cable representatives also are running information 

booths at area festivals and events such as the health fair at the 

Wilmington Senior Center. Moreover, because most of our customers in the Wilmington area are served by upgraded, state-ofthe-art facilities, we don’t expect any technical issues to arise as a 

result of the transition. Nevertheless, to be safe we are coordinating with the local broadcasters to make certain everything goes 

smoothly. We are also making sure that the Wilmington area systems have the equipment and personnel necessary to hook up new 

service for customers and to connect additional sets for those viewers that decide to switch from over-the-air reception. 

In conclusion, I again want to stress that Time Warner Cable is 

dedicated to ensuring, both through its individual efforts and 

through cooperative actions with broadcasters and others, that the 

broadcast television digital transition is a good experience for consumers who are up in Wilmington and around the Nation. And I 

would be happy to respond to any questions you might have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Cannon follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Ms. Cannon, very much. 

Our next witness is Mark Lloyd. He is the Vice President for 

Strategic Initiatives for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. 

Mr. Lloyd is here today to speak about the different challenges 

from affected communities facing this transition. We thank you, 

Mr. Lloyd, and we look forward to your testimony. 

STATEMENT OF MARK LLOYD, VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGIC 

INITIATIVES, LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Mr. LLOYD. Chairman Markey, great to see you again and members of the subcommittee. On behalf of the Leadership Conference 

on Civil Rights and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights 

Education Fund, again thank you for the opportunity to testify at 

today’s hearing on the status of digital television. 

LCCR is the Nation’s oldest and most diverse coalition of organizations working to protect the civil rights of all Americans through 

legislative advocacy. And the LCCR Ed Fund works to establish 

further the goal of equality under laws through public education. 

Mr. Chairman, despite the valiant volunteer work of our members and the DTV Transition Coalition, the Nation is simply not 

prepared at present for the shut-off of full power analog television 

broadcasting. There is, in brief, too little funding for research, education, and outreach to ensure that when February 17th, 2009 arrives all Americans will continue to receive over-the-air broadcast 

service. 

We are concerned the disproportionate impact of this transition 

on our constituents will result in a greater divide between those 

who have access to vital information and those who do not. Later 

this month our Leadership Conference will complete an extensive 

report on the challenges regarding the transition to digital television. We look forward to submitting that report to this committee. 

The serious problems of the transition identified by the Leadership Conference include lack of viewer awareness regarding significance of the transition, and continuing viewer confusion, retailer 

confusion, unnecessarily retailer upselling, TV converter box program problems and complexities, confusion over low power community television stations, and the continued need for analog passthrough, no rapid response plan to deal with the problems after 

February 17th. 

While the Federal agencies most responsible for managing this 

transition, the NTIA and FCC and a wide range of private stakeholders are working hard to address the impact of the transition. 

LCCR believes that the challenges involved in preparing Americans 

for the digital TV transition are of such magnitude that while active congressional oversight is important, strong congressional response is required. 

We strongly support the subsidy program and the coupon program designed to help Americans make this transition to digital 

television. But our work on the ground indicates a variety of problems. The coupon program began well before there were sufficient 

converter boxes on the shelves. Many who rushed looking at Good 

Morning America and other programs to get their coupons went to 

the stores to find out the converter boxes weren’t there or the low 

122 

cost converter boxes weren’t there or the analog pass-through converter boxes weren’t there. As Congressman Stupak noted earlier, 

converter boxes still are not available or are in short supply in 

many communities. 

Many, we have found, large retail manufacturers, or retailers 

rather, refuse to accept coupons from mail order or Internet purchases of converter boxes. Not all boxes eligible for the coupon program support video description services so needed by members of 

the our community or provide an easy analog pass-through for community broadcasters. 

Again, we applaud NTIA for showing flexibility with some of the 

other problematic provisions of the program, but we hope this committee will adopt the recommendations of Senator Inouye and Senator Stevens of the Senate Commerce Committee. Consumers 

should be able to use their converter box coupons to preorder so 

they might obtain boxes that are out of stock or in limited supply 

without running up against the expiration date. Also consumers 

should be able to reapply for coupons only if they have found that 

their coupons have expired. Too many Americans, as I said, responded earlier before the market was ready. 

First and foremost, we are deeply concerned the $5 million that 

Congress has allocated NTIA to educate consumers about the coupons program will be woefully inadequate to support the kind of 

public education effort that the transition process requires. I know 

that you know that other countries are spending much more than 

the United States in preparing their citizens for the transition to 

digital. 

Given the $20 billion raised in the 700 megahertz auction, maybe 

1 percent of that could be used to actually help American consumers make this transition. A public education campaign is not 

merely airing a series of public service announcements that digital 

television is coming; it is much more complicated here, as the testimony so far has suggested. 

The important services of low power and other community broadcasters will continue to send along signals. Full powered television 

service is not being exchanged simply for digital service. Many full 

powered broadcasters will be sending multiple digital signals. Some 

of those signals will be high definition, some will not. The contour 

of the reach of the digital signal will not exactly match the reach 

of the old analog signal. These are not simple messages to convey. 

And that does not even take into account the educational effort regarding the complicated coupon program. 

We at the Leadership Conference are working with the Southeast 

Asian Action Resource Center, the National Council of La Raza, the 

NAACP, National Urban League, the National Congress of American Indians, the American Association of People With Disabilities, 

and others to reach deep into communities and to work with direct 

service providers to get the word out. 

We know that one of our members, AARP, and others of our 

members are also extending themselves to get the word out. We 

have received no financial assistance from the FCC or NTIA to prepare our communities for this major transition, and our resources 

are limited. 

123 

Again, we applaud the public service announcements of NAB and 

PBS, but again these efforts are simply not sufficient. 

Mr. MARKEY. If you could summarize. 

Mr. LLOYD. My final note is simply that we need an aggressive 

ongoing monitor effort, and there must be plans in place to respond 

rapidly to those most vulnerable populations who end up losing 

service. 

Again, thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Lloyd follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Lloyd, very, very much. 

Our next witness is Mr. Paul McTear. He is the President and 

Chief Executive Officer of Raycom Media. Welcome, sir. 

STATEMENT OF PAUL MCTEAR, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF 

EXECUTIVE OFFICER, RAYCOM MEDIA, INC. 

Mr. MCTEAR. Chairman Markey, Ranking Member Stearns, and 

members of the subcommittee, my name is Paul McTear and I am 

the President and—— 

Mr. MARKEY. If you could use a microphone. It is a new technology in the media world. Oh, beautiful, thank you. 

Mr. MCTEAR. Chairman Markey, Ranking Member Stearns, and 

members of the subcommittee, my name is Paul McTear and I am 

the President and Chief Executive Officer of Raycom Media. 

Raycom owns 38 full power television stations serving communities 

across the country, including Station WECT in Wilmington, North 

Carolina. The Wilmington market has been chosen for an early cutover from analog to digital television service on September 8th, 

2008, while the rest of the country will make the transition on February the 17th, 2009. 

The focus of my testimony today is on the efforts of Raycom and 

our government and private sector partners in the five-county Wilmington area. A cornerstone of Raycom’s operation philosophy is 

our commitment to strong local service. We believe that this is good 

for the public and good for our business. Our participation in the 

Wilmington area experiment is consistent with this commitment to 

public service. 

The cut-over to digital only operations that the country will undertake on February 17th, 2009, poses various risks and challenges. The FCC asked the Wilmington area stations to take this 

step more than 5 months earlier than the rest of the country on 

September 8th, 2008, so that the country can assess those risks 

and challenges on the basis of the Wilmington experience and better prepare for the February 17th cut-over. Not only does Wilmington have 5 fewer months than the rest of the country to prepare for this transition, it also must accomplish the transition in 

an environment where the entire rest of the country, including television markets adjacent to Wilmington, will be emphasizing the 

February 17th digital cut-over date. 

There will be problems and some will continue after September 

8th. Through intense news coverage, heavy doses of PSAs and numerous over-air and off-air activities, WECT and our sister stations 

will be engaged in a vigorous, multi-faceted campaign to anticipate 

and overcome these problems. Many of our efforts will be devoted 

to practical issues, where to obtain converter boxes, how to install 

them, antenna issues, and the like. 

We are also working intensely with cable and satellite operators, 

equipment retailers, local government, local civic groups, and other 

groups especially well-suited to outreach to an at-risk population 

like the elderly, rural viewers, seasonal residents, and minorities. 

For example, 3 weeks ago Wilmington held a town hall meeting devoted to the digital transition experiment and we expect to participate in similar gatherings and numerous communities within the 

market. 

136 

In these efforts we frequently stress the pioneering role that the 

Wilmington area is playing. We are also working with the FCC, 

which is providing exceptional support, and with NTIA and the 

NAB. I am proud of the way our industry has responded to the 

challenges of the transition. 

One attachment to my written statement catalogues the industry’s strenuous efforts under NAB’s leadership. I am also proud of 

Raycom’s localized efforts across the 38 markets as described in another attachment to my written testimony. As the attachment reflects, Raycom stations have broadcast more than 50,000 transition 

education announcements since April of last year, as well as 1,400 

news items related to the transition. 

I am hopeful that with the help of many others the Wilmington 

experiment will succeed and that later the full nationwide transition will also succeed. The result will be the greatest breakthrough 

in television since the introduction of color—crystal clear pictures, 

vastly improved sound, and the opportunity for more services. 

There is one issue that I am told that only Congress can fix. The 

Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act provides 

television stations with exclusivity rights for their analog signals, 

but through an oversight it was never updated to take into account 

the cut-over to digital only operations. Without a fix to this inadvertent loophole, the integrity of local markets could be destroyed 

and local service jeopardized. 

In closing, we would especially like to thank Chairman Martin 

and Commissioner Copps for their leadership in connection with 

this experiment. I also want to acknowledge the role of this committee in advancing the transition and protecting consumer interests as we make our way through this challenging transition. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. McTear follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. McTear, very much. 

Our next witness is Mr. John Ripperton. He’s the Senior Vice 

President for Supply Chain Management from RadioShack and we 

welcome you, sir. Whenever you are ready. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN RIPPERTON, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, 

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, RADIOSHACK 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Good morning, Chairman Markey, Ranking 

Member Stearns, and members of the subcommittee. My name is 

John Ripperton, and I am the Senior Vice President for Supply 

Chain Management and RadioShack. We are grateful for the 

chance to update the subcommittee again on the involvement of 

RadioShack and other members of the Consumer Electronic Retailers Coalition on the transition to digital television, and NTIA’s converter box coupon program. 

As you know, RadioShack is a major consumer electronics retailer with over 4,400 corporate stores and another 1,500 dealer 

stores located throughout the U.S. We consider ourselves to be your 

neighborhood retailers, an attribute very helpful in the digital transition. RadioShack has remained steadfast to its commitment to 

the transition and the coupon program since its creation. 

We have heard very positive feedback from our consumers about 

the quality of the television viewing with our converter boxes connected. RadioShack is not alone in its efforts in commitment. I am 

going to focus on several issues important to the continued success 

of the program and transition. 

First, as of June 4th, the NTIA Web site indicates approximately 

15 million coupons have been mailed. That is an average of 104,000 

requests for coupons being placed daily. The statistics demonstrate 

the extraordinary interest consumers are showing in the benefits of 

digital television and the converter box. However, these statistics 

also indicate there may be significant demand being placed on inventory during the next few months. 

Retailers also continue to be faced with product adjustments to 

accommodate the many low power broadcasters that will not participate in the transition next February. Manufacturers have been 

working with NTIA on the approval of boxes with analog passthrough capability. To date 23 such models are approved. 

Last week RadioShack announced that it is among the first of 

the national retailers to have analog pass-through boxes arriving 

in our stores. The boxes are also available through our Direct-toYou program. 

The pent-up demand for converter boxes, combined with the interest in providing analog pass-through boxes may present challenges for retailers this summer. It is essential that retailers receive as granular information as possible from NTIA about the status of coupon distribution and redemption. Retailers are doing all 

they can to provide converter boxes to consumers, even when a particular store inventory is low. RadioShack has a program called Direct-To-You. This program allows our corporate stores to place orders from a central fulfillment center in the event the store is out 

of stock. When an order is placed, the consumer will receive the 

converter box free of any delivery charge. As we announced in February, the company also created a dedicated, toll free number 1– 

173 

877–RSD–TV4U for orders. Other retailers have similar toll free 

numbers. 

I would be remiss if I did not mention our concern about consumers who fail to redeem coupons before expiration. There are a 

number of solutions, but they present challenges of their own at 

this time in the program. RadioShack’s solution will be to continue 

our aggressive support of our Direct-To-You option if we encounter 

inventory issues within our stores. 

Second, when RadioShack testified in February we mentioned 

that unforeseen cost that results from a 5 percent tariff that the 

U.S. Customs has imposed on the importation of coupon eligible 

boxes. Retailers believe it is inappropriate for the government to 

subsidize the purchase of these converter boxes and then tax their 

importation. This inequity is even more apparent and problematic 

as retailers and manufacturers may need to pay premium freight 

costs to meet consumer demand. 

Recently, Representatives Kind and Brady introduced a bill, H.R. 

5635, to waive the tariff, and I would hope that members of this 

committee will cosponsor this urgent legislation and work for its 

passage. 

Third, RadioShack and other large retailers are preparing to accommodate the September 8th transition in Wilmington. We have 

adjusted in store signage and materials in this market and are participating in community and store events managed by the FCC. In 

sum, we believe retailers will be prepared. 

Fourth, we continue to believe that consumer education is the 

most important component of digital transition. RadioShack and 

other members are implementing detailed bilingual education 

plans, including media, signage, training, and outreach efforts. 

Even the packaging of our newly analog pass-through box is fully 

bilingual. RadioShack continues to make significant efforts to train 

its sales associates on the why, the when, and the how concerning 

this critical transition. All forms of communication emphasize to 

our employees the need to ask consumers the right questions. 

RadioShack is also participating in a number of community outreach efforts. We are very pleased today to announce that 

RadioShack and the American Library Association are partnering 

to conduct joint community outreach sessions throughout the country. 

Mr. MARKEY. It you could summarize, please. 

Mr. RIPPERTON. RadioShack has also held a number of events 

with NTIA, the Department of Commerce, and the FCC, with more 

events planned this year. On behalf of RadioShack and as a member of CERC, I appreciate the opportunity to testify on our continued role in the transition to digital television. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Ripperton follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Ripperton, very much. 

Our final witness is Mr. Eric Rossi, who is Senior Product Manager from the Nielsen Company. We welcome you. 

STATEMENT OF ERIC ROSSI, SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER, 

MEDIA PRODUCT LEADERSHIP, THE NIELSEN COMPANY 

Mr. ROSSI. Thank you, Chairman Markey, members of the subcommittee. As you said, my name is Eric Rossi and my title is Senior Product Manager of Media Product Leadership for the Nielsen 

Company. I appreciate your invitation to appear before you today. 

As you know, Nielsen provides audience measurement services 

for the television industry in the United States through Nielsen 

Media Research, which produces what is commonly known as the 

Nielsen rating. I am here today in my role as the Director of 

Nielsen’s various efforts to prepare for the 2009 digital transition. 

For more than 2 years Nielsen has undertaken a variety of initiatives to ensure that we remain fully capable of providing the industry highly accurate audience measurement data and analysis as 

the Nation moves from the analog to the digital world of television. 

As part of our efforts, Nielsen has conducted several surveys and 

studies to determine the digital readiness of U.S. households, both 

nationally and at the local level in the Nation’s 56 largest television markets where we have ongoing electronic measurements. 

Nielsen’s information on readiness has the advantage of being 

based on visits by Nielsen staff to our existing homes and metered 

samples throughout the country. This allows us to accurately tally 

the readiness of the equipment in the home rather than relying on 

self reporting as some other surveys must do. 

We released the latest of these surveys late last month, and the 

findings in this report is the basis of my testimony today. The full 

report has been submitted to the subcommittee as part of my testimony. 

The methodology employed in compiling the report is the same 

as we use in our regular reports on television viewing by the American public. Detailed explanations of the methodology used are also 

included in the full report submitted to you. We believe our estimates will give you the most accurate picture available on the current status of digital readiness. This is not a prediction of what 

Nielsen thinks will happen on February 18th, 2009, it is a report 

on the current state. Our tracking this data over the current coming months will allow the industry to determine the efficacy of the 

education effort as a proportion of unready homes in our sample 

shrinks. 

Let me give you the highlights of the report. Based on the 

Nielsen estimates, 9.4 percent of all U.S. households are completely 

unready for the transition. That means in these households there 

are no television sets currently capable of receiving digital broadcast television signals. We found that 12.6 percent of all U.S. 

households are partly unready, which means that the household 

has at least one set that is capable of receiving digital broadcast 

television signals and one set that is not. So with a combined number of completely unready households and partly unready, we 

found that 78 percent of all households are completely ready for the 

digital transition. 

188 

In our examination of local markets to determine digital readiness we found wide gaps between communities that are completely 

ready for the transition and communities that are less prepared for 

the switch. Among the markets least prepared for the transition is 

Milwaukee, where 18.3 percent of the households are completely 

unready. In Salt Lake City 18 percent of households are completely 

unprepared for the transition, while 17.3 percent of Portland, Oregon’s households are completely unprepared. Other markets where 

the number of completely unprepared households range from 17 to 

14.2 percent are Houston, Minneapolis, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Albuquerque. 

At the other end of the spectrum is Hartford-New Haven, where 

3.1 percent of households are completely unready for the transition. 

That figure is 3.8 percent in New York, 4.1 percent in Atlanta, and 

4.4 percent in Ft. Myers. In several markets the percentage of 

households range from 4.5 to 5.5 percent, and those cities include 

Boston, West Palm Beach, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New Orleans, 

and Washington, D.C. 

As we do in our regular reporting under the viewing habits of television audiences, we looked at demographic data and ethnic audiences in our study of digital readiness. With regard to age we 

found that males and females 18 to 24 are the demographic group 

that would be most impacted if the digital transition occurred 

today. While these groups make up 4.9 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, of households with persons 2 years old and older, these 

same groups represent 6.2 and 5.5 percent of households with persons 2 years and older who live in completely unready households. 

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic households would be most impacted if the DTV transitioning occurred today. While Hispanics 

comprise 11.3 percent of total U.S. households, 19.9 percent of completely unready households are Hispanic. It is worth noting that 

10.3 percent of completely ready households speaks Spanish only, 

a figure that is 5 times the percentage of households in the U.S. 

where only Spanish is spoken. For African Americans, who represent 12.1 percent of total U.S. households, 16.3 percent of those 

households are completely unready for the transition. 

Finally, we analyzed viewing to unready sets and determine that 

unready sets account for 7.5 percent viewing television usage during the day. Television usage to unready sets represented 8.1 percent of all television usage during prime time and daily tuning 

within a completely unready household averages 6.9 hours, while 

daily tuning to completely unready households averages 8.7 hours. 

Over the next 7 months we plan to release updated reports on 

the digital television transition, and we will share them with you, 

the television industry, and other interested parties. 

I look forward to answering any questions to clarify my testimony, and again thank you for the opportunity to appear today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Rossi follows:] 

STATEMENT OF ERIC ROSSI

Chairman Markey, members of the subcommittee. My name is Eric Rossi and my 

title is Senior Product Manager, Media Product Leadership for the Nielsen Company. I appreciate your invitation to appear before you today. 

189 

As you know, Nielsen provides audience measurement services for the television 

industry in the United States through Nielsen Media Research, which produces 

what is commonly known as the Nielsen Ratings. I am here today in my role as 

the director of Nielsen’s various efforts to prepare for the 2009 digital television 

transition. For more than 2 years, Nielsen has undertaken a variety of initiatives 

to ensure that we remain fully capable of providing the industry highly accurate audience measurement data and analysis as the nation moves from the analog to the 

digital world of television. 

As part of our efforts, Nielsen has conducted several surveys and studies to determine the digital readiness of U.S. households, both nationally and at the local level 

in the Nation’s 56 largest television markets where we have ongoing electronic 

measurement. Nielsen’s information on readiness has the advantage of being based 

on visits by Nielsen staff to our existing homes in our metered samples throughout 

the country. This allows us to accurately tally the readiness of the equipment in the 

home rather than relying on self-reporting as some other surveys must do. 

We released the latest of these surveys late last month and the findings in this 

report are the basis of my testimony today. The full report has been submitted to 

the subcommittee as part of my testimony. The methodology employed in compiling 

the report is the same as we use in our regular reports on television viewing by 

the American pubic. Detailed explanations of the methodology used are also included in the full report submitted to you. We believe our estimates will give you 

the most accurate picture available on the current status of digital readiness. 

This is not a prediction of what Nielsen thinks will happen on February 18, 2009. 

It is a report on the current state. Our tracking of this data over the coming months 

will allow the industry to determine the efficacy of the education effort as the proportion of unready homes in our sample shrinks. 

Let me give you the highlights of our report. 

Based on the Nielsen estimates, 9.4% of all U.S. households are completely unready for the digital television transition. That means that in these households, 

there are no television sets currently capable of receiving digital broadcast television 

signals. 

We found that 12.6% of all U.S. households are partly unready, which means that 

the household has at least one set that is capable of receiving digital broadcast television signals and at least one set is not. 

So, with the combined number of completely unready households and partly unready household, we found that 78% of all households are completely ready for the 

digital transition. 

In our examination of local markets to determine digital readiness, we found wide 

gaps between communities that are completely ready for the transition and communities that are less prepared for the switch. 

Among the cities least prepared for the transition is Milwaukee, where 18.3% of 

the households are completely unready. In Salt Lake City, 18% of households are 

completely unprepared for the transition while 17.3% of Portland, Oregon’s households are completely unprepared for the transition. 

Other cities where the number of completely unprepared households ranged from 

17% to 14.2% are Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Cincinnati, St. 

Louis, Tulsa, and Albuquerque-Santa Fe. 

At the other end of the spectrum is Hartford & New Haven, where 3.1% of households are completely unready for the transition. That figure is 3.8% in New York, 

4.1% in Atlanta, and 4.4% in Ft. Myers-Naples. In several cities, the percentage of 

households that are completely unready range from 4.5% to 5.5%. Those cities include Boston, West Palm-Beach-Ft. Pierce, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New Orleans, 

and Washington, DC (Hagerstown). 

As we do in our regular reporting on the viewing habits of television audiences, 

we looked at data on demographic groups and ethnic audiences in our study of digital readiness. 

With regard to age, we found that males and females ages 18–24 are the demographic group that would be most impacted if the digital transition occurred today. 

While males and females ages 18–24 make up 4.9% and 4.6% respectively of households of persons two years old and older, these same groups represent 6.2% and 

5.5% of households of persons 2 years old and older who live in completely unready 

households. 

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic households would be most impacted if the DTV 

transition occurred today. While Hispanics comprise 11.3% of total U.S. households, 

19.9% of completely unready households are Hispanic. And, it is worth noting that 

10.3% of completely unready households speak Spanish only, a figure that is five 

times the percentage of households in the U.S. where only Spanish is spoken. For 

190 

African Americans, who represent 12.1% of the total U.S. households, 16.3% of 

households are completely unready for the transition. 

Finally, we analyzed the viewing to unready sets and determined that unready 

sets accounted for 7.5% of television usage during the day. Television usage to unready sets represented 8.1% of all television usage during primetime. And, daily 

tuning within a completely unready household averages 6.9 hours, while daily turning to completely ready households averages 8.7 hours. 

It is important to note that the information offered here today is a snapshot of 

what the digital readiness picture looks like currently. As we get closer to the DTV 

transition date, households will surely upgrade their television equipment at an accelerated rate. And, over the next 7 months, Nielsen will continue to monitor the 

types of television equipment Americans are using and purchasing. We plan to release updated reports on the digital television transition and we will share them 

with you, the television industry and other interested parties. I look forward to answering your questions to clarify my testimony and again thank you for the opportunity to appear today. 

MAJOR TESTIMONIAL POINTS

Highlights of Nielsen’s Report on America’s Readiness for the DTV Transition: 

OVERALL DTV PREPAREDNESS: 

• 9.4% of all U.S. households are completely unready for the digital television 

transition; 

• 12.6% of all U.S. households are partly unready for the digital television transition; 

• 78% of all households are completely ready for the digital transition; 

• Wide gaps exist between communities that are completely ready for the transition and communities that are less prepared for the switch. 

DTV PREPAREDNESS BY CITY: 

•The least DTV transition prepared cities: Milwaukee (18.3% of the households 

are completely unprepared); Salt Lake City (18% unprepared); Portland (17.3%); 

• Cities where unprepared range from 17.2%–14%: Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, 

Dallas-Ft. Worth, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Tulsa and Albuquerque-Santa Fe; 

• Better prepared cities include: Hartford & New Haven (3.1% of households unready for the transition; New York (3.8%), Atlanta (4.1%); Ft. Myers-Naples (4.4%). 

Cities where unready range from 4.5% to 5.5% include Boston, West Palm-BeachFt. Pierce, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Washington, DC (Hagerstown). 

DTV PREPAREDNESS BY DEMOGRAPHY: 

• Males and females ages 18–24 are the demographic group most impacted if the 

digital transition occurred today. Males and females ages 18-24 are 4.9% and 4.6% 

respectively of households of persons two years old and older, and 6.2% and 5.5% 

of households of persons two years old and older who live in completely unready 

households. 

• Hispanic households would be most impacted if the DTV transition occurred 

today. Hispanics comprise 11.3% of total U.S. households, but 19.9% of completely 

unready households. Note that 10.3% of unready households speak Spanish only, 

five times the percentage of Spanish-only households in the U.S. 

• African Americans represent 12.1% of the total U.S. households, but 16.3% of 

completely unready households. 

• Unready sets accounted for 7.5% of daily television usage during the day, 8.1% 

during primetime. Daily tuning within completely unready households averages 6.9 

hours, 8.7 hours in completely ready households. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. 

Did you say the digital ready homes, that it is 8.9 hours per day 

the TV set is on? 

Mr. ROSSI. Yes. 

Mr. MARKEY. And if you slept 8 hours—— 

Mr. ROSSI. 8.7 percent. 

Mr. MARKEY. No, you said 8.6 hours. 

191 

Mr. ROSSI. Yes, hours, 8.7 hours per day in a ready household. 

Mr. MARKEY. Digital ready household—— 

Mr. ROSSI. Yes. 

Mr. MARKEY. Eight hours of sleep. 

Mr. ROSSI. Eight hours of work. 

Mr. MARKEY. Something’s got to go there. I don’t think it is going 

to be the digital TV. Something is going. I will recognize myself 

and the gentleman from Texas, and it looks like we have a panel 

to ourselves here. 

Let me go back to you, Mr. Romeo. You heard Dr. McGuire-Rivera on the first panel discuss the issue of administrative funds 

and also the cost should it prove necessary or advisable to allow 

NTIA to reissue coupons to consumers who have seen them expire 

without being able to redeem them. That is people who walked into 

stores in the first 90 days and there were no—not because of the 

consumer, but because of the store or because of something the converter boxes were not there. And now their coupon has expired. 

So could you discuss the issues and the cost here? The Administrator, the Acting Administrator really didn’t sound very optimistic 

here about the relationship between the cost of reissuing and the 

likelihood that the consumer will ever be able to get a converter 

box. 

Mr. ROMEO. Sure, I would be happy to comment. First on the 

reissuance of the coupons. I think in the discussion earlier it was 

talked about eliminating the expiration date. I think that is much 

different than allowing a reissuance of the coupon. 

Mr. MARKEY. Would you favor that? Doing away with the expiration date? 

Mr. ROMEO. From a program perspective it would be more expensive to handle it than reissuing coupons. 

Mr. MARKEY. It would be more expensive just to—it is—I am 

sorry, which way is more expensive? 

Mr. ROMEO. If you just eliminate the expiration date. The problem is that—- 

Mr. MARKEY. Which way is more expensive? 

Mr. ROMEO. Elimination of the expiration totally now that the 

coupons are out there. So if you allowed reissuance of coupons, 

what would happen is your coupon would expire, you would be allowed to order another set of coupons and I assume if funds were 

available then you would be allowed to get additional coupons. 

Mr. MARKEY. So are you in favor of reissuing coupons? 

Mr. ROMEO. We can do whatever the law allows. 

Mr. MARKEY. No, I understand that, but you are here as the expert panel, you see people, you can feel what their problems are. 

You are back here, Mr. Romeo. You’re here to tell us what makes 

the most sense, not what does Congress think you should do. You 

are supposed to be telling us what you think we should be telling 

you or telling the Administrator to do. Do you think it makes sense 

to reissue the coupons, yes or no? 

Mr. ROMEO. Yes. 

Mr. MARKEY. Let’s go down the panel and we are going to ask 

that question. Do you think it makes sense to reissue the coupons, 

Ms. Cannon? 

Ms. CANNON. Yes. 

192 

Mr. LLOYD. Yes. 

Mr. MCTEAR. Yes. 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Yes. 

Mr. ROSSI. I don’t have an opinion on that. 

Mr. MARKEY. Don’t have an opinion, OK. So 7, 0, and 1 there. 

What is the cost of that, Mr. Romeo? 

Mr. ROMEO. Well, the cost of issuing the coupons. So when we 

were asked to bid on the original contract there were 33 million 

coupons to be shipped. Those 33 million coupons will be shipped by 

the end of October. So any additional shipping of coupons comes 

with a cost. So the administrative funds that were programmed 

were for 33 million coupons. I—my estimate now given the current 

burn rate is that at the end of October 33 million coupons will have 

been shipped. 

Mr. MARKEY. OK. 

Mr. ROMEO. So that leaves from October to the end of February 

with as far as what we are contracted to do on funded shipping of 

coupons. 

Mr. MARKEY. On funded. What do you think that cost will be? 

Give us a ball park figure. It doesn’t have to be Fenway Park, it 

could be Yellowstone Park, but just give us some range of what 

kind of money we are talking about here. You have the program, 

you’re running it. 

Mr. ROMEO. The first thing they taught me at IBM is never give 

an unauthorized price quote, but I will give you an idea. There was 

money set aside—I believe the funding for the total administrative 

costs for the first two phases of the program was $120 million for 

33 million coupons. 

Mr. MARKEY. Yes. 

Mr. ROMEO. If you could give me an estimate of how many coupons you think would be shipped for the program you could do the 

math yourself, 120 million—— 

Mr. MARKEY. What is a reasonable number for the shipping? 

What do you think? 

Mr. ROMEO. It depends if you allow reordering of coupons. So 

current burn rate says 44 million, that is without a ramp-up at the 

end of the program and without you saying I can reorder. If you 

say that you can reorder coupons—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Could you do the math in your brain there? Or anyone else on the panel. Mr. RadioShack is doing it over here. He is 

multiplying right now. Do you have the answer, Mr. Ripperton? 

What does it come out to? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Congressman Markey, I think the answer to the 

question at this juncture is if the demand continues to grow, we 

will be able to—unabated, we will be able to determine an answer 

fairly soon. Right now we are not positive what is happening in the 

marketplace. By that I say that there may be consumers postponing decisions to acquire LCD TVs, there may be consumers that 

are deciding to not continue with the cable services and the like because of the economy. And I think that is accelerating the demand 

for converter boxes that was not anticipated. That I believe is one 

of the dilemmas that all of us are experiencing right now. 

Mr. MARKEY. I understand. 

193 

Mr. RIPPERTON. We don’t know that we can give you a definitive 

answer right now, but it is a growing number. 

Mr. MARKEY. But you can imagine the tension in this room in a 

few more months. 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 

Mr. MARKEY. You will be back as a witness. 

You know the old question: Which is a bigger problem, ignorance 

or apathy? And the person says, well, I don’t know and I don’t care. 

So the problem here is that either way we are going to have an explosive situation later on there. So it is in your interest all to know 

what the answer is. I want to say to you, Mr. Rossi, how many people did you say? What percent are completely unready? 

Mr. ROSSI. Completely unready was 9.4 percent. 

Mr. MARKEY. What percent are only partially ready, what percent was that? 

Mr. ROSSI. Let me check. I think it was around 12.6 percent were 

partially ready. 

Mr. MARKEY. So the television I have in my bathroom, that is 

just a regular analog set for the last 23 years. Looking at me, am 

I in the partially unready category? 

Mr. ROSSI. If it is not hooked up to cable or satellite, yes. 

Mr. MARKEY. I think Nielsen’s numbers are so far off it is almost 

ridiculous that you have them here, to be honest with you, because 

there are a lot more people in that category than you think. I don’t 

think you are measuring my TV set looking at me in that bathroom. I think people all over the country have an extra TV set in 

some room and your number is so far off and GAO is so much closer to it. I just want to say this to you, that it is just not an accurate 

number. 

Mr. ROSSI. What I can tell you is that we do in all of our sample 

homes over 30,000 metered homes, we actually send people into 

those homes to go throughout the house and catalogue every single 

set and what devices are hooked up to it, which we feel is fairly 

accurate. We have to do that, as we are entrusted to do that by our 

clients, so we have to do a good job of capturing all the viewing of 

every television set. So we feel that we have a good handle on what 

is actually happening in the household. 

Mr. MARKEY. I do not believe that that is accurate at all. I think 

that a very high percentage of Americans have a TV set in some 

room that is not hooked up to cable. I just think your number is 

really much well within the reality that it would bear. 

I turn now to recognize the gentleman from San Antonio, Mr. 

Gonzalez. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think there is some 

agreement with the members of the committee that we have a 

problem. The question is how big a problem it is going to be and 

whether we are doing things to mitigate. Now I don’t want to put 

words in the mouths of the previous witnesses, but I didn’t get a 

sense that they are really preparing for the increased activity, and 

I will start where I started the first question with the other witnesses. 

Is there any disagreement that the greater activity regarding the 

request for the converter boxes is yet to come? Because I am not 

sure I got agreement from the first two witnesses on that basic 

194 

premise. And I mean I can read—I think this is Mr. Rossi’s testimony. As we get closer to the DTV transition date households will 

surely upgrade their television equipment at an accelerated rate. 

Yes, it is human nature, and we should be anticipating that. Now 

the question is are we anticipating it? I am not sure that we are. 

Now we are talking about expiration dates, so that coupons—how 

many of the coupons were actually utilized? I think it is a startling 

statistic that of the 800,000 or whatever that were issued, I think 

maybe 41, 42 out of every hundred were actually swiped. If that 

doesn’t tell you something, first of all you are going to have a real 

problem with that particular population that will be barred from 

getting the coupon for $40 for a converter box. That is a real interesting situation in and of itself. 

The other thing is I believe that Mr. Markey may be on to something about how we gauge. I don’t want to get into the people 

meter versus diaries and Spanish-speaking households and how 

they are impacted, because I think there may be a disconnect 

there, but we can probably take that up at a different time. 

Mr. Romeo, Mr. Lloyd, and Mr. Ripperton, did you hear anything 

from the previous witnesses that addresses the concerns that you 

have expressed about the greater activity that will transpire as we 

get closer to February the 17th? 

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to point out that February 17th will 

probably take place during the Presidents Week recess when we 

are back home. We may reconsider being home during that week. 

I am not real sure you want to be that close to many of the constituents who no longer have television service. 

But going back to the question, did you hear anything about saying yes, we are going to make the adjustments, resources, plans? 

Mr. ROMEO. I didn’t hear anything in the testimony. I can tell 

you that we are working with NTIA to look at the cost of shipping 

additional coupons. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Lloyd. 

Mr. LLOYD. No, I didn’t hear anything either. While we are working with NTIA and FCC and other partners, I think our concerns 

are your concerns. We are simply not prepared for an increased demand in coupons or some of the challenges that will come when 

people get these converter boxes and try to connect them again. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Ripperton. 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Yes, sir, what I did hear is that NTIA was looking at the options of taking orders and how that would be managed. And what we would advocate strongly is that there be an allowance for taking orders, but in—not that that would prohibit 

fraud, because that was one of the major issues that was brought 

up and certainly we are committed to fulfilling those orders, but instore and with our Direct-To-You solution as a major retailer. We 

need to satisfy our consumer demands. We need to put some guidance around how you can do that process and do it well for the consumers and your constituents. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you. And I am not sure that I was hearing 

it right and of course I don’t want to again attribute any comment, 

but I think Dr. McGuire-Rivera may have alluded to the additional 

costs to allow reapplication or reissuance. And I forget the exact 

number, but she said we are just not set up to do it. But we are 

195 

not moving quickly to address it, we definitely will not be set up 

to do it at any point in time. It is not for us up here ‘‘the sky is 

falling’’ scenario. That doesn’t really help. What we would like to 

do is to avoid the sky from falling. I am hoping that as Mr. Markey 

indicated that you give us some guidance. You are there on the 

ground, you understand what is really going on. And we monitor 

this, and that is what this hearing is all about. Many times it is 

after the fact and too late. And I just think—let’s hope that time— 

can I have one last question, sir? 

This was a question that was actually going to be presented by 

the chairman of the full committee, I believe. That is to Mr. Romeo. 

There was some concern that NTIA may have inadvertently issued 

coupons that had a 60-day expiration period. Is that true? Have 

you heard anything like that? 

Mr. ROMEO. No, I haven’t heard anything like that. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. All right, I yield back. 

Mr. MARKEY. Great, thank you so much. Mr. Lloyd, let me come 

back to you. We heard Mr. Gonzalez talking about the effort that 

is going on in San Antonio with regard to minority stations getting 

out the word. Give us your overall profile of what is going on across 

the country in the minority community in terms of the outreach, 

in terms of the penetration rate, in terms of the redemption rate 

compared to those who are in the white community. Is there a disparity, how big is it, and what would you recommend for us to do 

to close that gap? 

Mr. LLOYD. Well, there is a disparity, I must admit I am not 

comfortable with the research from Nielsen or from the Consumers 

Union or from other sources. I am more comfortable with the GAO 

research than some of the other research that I have taken a look 

at. 

There is a disparity regarding minority populations, regarding 

folks who are poor, on fixed income, regarding confusion both about 

the program and the transition and how its going to impact them. 

We have also seen on the ground that folks that really had some 

trouble going into retailers who are trying to sell them either boxes 

or cable service or satellite service that they don’t need, rather 

than helping them make the transition with the over-the-air boxes 

that they have got. 

Mr. MARKEY. Yes. 

Mr. LLOYD. We have seen folks who get the boxes and can’t connect them, try to talk to retailers, and the manufacturers and the 

retailers don’t tell them effectively how to connect them. We are 

also concerned about what happens when people actually get the 

converter boxes. Maybe a box doesn’t work, maybe they need an additional antenna, or something else. And we are not convinced that 

there is a mechanism in place to really help people on the ground 

make that transition. 

Mr. MARKEY. And how big of a disparity do you think it is between the minority community and the white community? 

Mr. LLOYD. Again, looking at GAO’s stats, I think the disparity 

is probably around anywhere between 5 to 10 percent, depending 

on the particular community that we are talking about, which may 

be significant for the African-American and for the Latino community especially. 

196 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. McTear, could you again quantify the total 

amount of the advertising being done by the broadcasting industry? 

Mr. MCTEAR. Not the entire industry, Mr. Chairman, but I can 

tell you that across our 38 television stations, we have run over 

40,000 spots. We have 275 speakers bureaus so that we have sent 

people out to speak to various community organizations. We have 

around 930 news stories. We did 60 editorials. We did 6,000 news 

calls and have done 35 incidents of phone banks whereby during 

our news broadcast, we ask viewers to phone in where we had staff 

members man phones for a period of 2 hours doing a lot of oneon-one coaching and counseling so that—that is what we have done 

since last April as a company. 

Mr. MARKEY. Do you know Ms. Cannon? 

Mr. MCTEAR. I introduced myself to her last week. 

Mr. MARKEY. So you are both in the Wilmington market, but you 

are just getting to know each other right now? 

Mr. MCTEAR. Just for the record, I actually live in Montgomery, 

Alabama, at the corporate office. But we do have management in 

Wilmington that does know Ms. Cannon. 

Mr. MARKEY. Ms. Cannon, you are working with Raycom in Wilmington? 

Ms. CANNON. Yes. And with all the broadcasters. 

Mr. MARKEY. Excuse me? 

Ms. CANNON. With all the broadcasters. 

Mr. MARKEY. So do you have meetings together to plot out a general plan? 

Ms. CANNON. Yes. Actually we had a meeting with the broadcasters and our public affairs folks and our marketing folks last 

week, and we have a—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Was that the first meeting? 

Ms. CANNON. No. That was just with the marketing, to bring the 

marketing folks into it. Then we have cross-functional meetings 

every single week with our entire region and our local team to 

move this forward. 

Mr. MARKEY. Would you recommend that that happen in every 

television market in America? 

Ms. CANNON. Yes. As a matter of fact, we are taking good notes 

and compiling a list of tactics so when this is over in Wilmington, 

we can spread the word, the dos and don’ts. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. McTear, are you encouraged by the meetings 

that have taken place in Wilmington between the cable and broadcast industries and the other industries? 

Mr. MCTEAR. Very much so. I think Raycom has also had conversations as we get ready with Comcast, Warner and the others, 

at least the top eight MSOs, to do comarketing, coeducation in all 

of our markets. 

Mr. MARKEY. So in other words, you are already partnering, you 

are already meeting. Have you met with the top people from 

Comcast yourself? 

Mr. MCTEAR. Yes, sir. 

Mr. MARKEY. So it is across the entire Raycom footprint that you 

have met with the people in the industry? 

Mr. MCTEAR. Yes, sir. 

197 

Mr. MARKEY. And, Mr. Ripperton, what are we going to do about 

the non-RadioShacks? What are we going to do about these stores 

that don’t have, say, either quite the capacity or the ethical standards of RadioShack? What do you recommend that we do here as 

a committee to make sure that they respond to this consumer demand in a way that is commensurate with the challenge that many 

of these families are going to be confronted with? In other words, 

we don’t need laws for good people. We only pass laws for bad people because the bad people don’t act in a way that is consistent 

with overall societal goals. So what do you recommend that we do 

to these bad stores? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Dr. McGuire-Rivera addressed that they are taking those retailers that had been authorized to sell boxes; they are 

eliminating them as being approved by the program. And I would 

think that that would be the first steps that we need to go through. 

Mr. MARKEY. You are there on the ground. These are your competitors across the whole country. You have got this big job. You 

know who they are. So give us some other recommendations that 

we could implement. 

Mr. RIPPERTON. The strongest thing that I could recommend is 

that we speak through our actions. And RadioShack is delivering 

and other retailers are delivering on the consumer promise to provide a high-quality digital experience. And if other retailers embrace similar programs such as ours on the direct-to-you program, 

the stores that may be out of stock, there may be other options for 

them to deliver a box to a customer’s home or to their supporting 

store. That is what we would advocate. It is certainly working for 

us. 

Mr. MARKEY. For you. But what about stores that are not as focused as you are on the problem? What do we do to them? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Again, it is hard to address other companies, but 

I would think that there are—especially the members of CERC. 

Mr. MARKEY. The members of—— 

Mr. RIPPERTON. CERC, the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, that they follow suit with similar actions that we are taking 

in providing that consumer experience. 

Mr. MARKEY. What could you give us as a recommendation, 

though, that we should have—what is it called? We don’t allow 

acronyms to be used here. 

Mr. RIPPERTON. I am sorry. It is the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition. 

Mr. MARKEY. All the stores like RadioShack, the good stores and 

the bad stores. So what do you recommend the standard adopted 

by the Consumer Electronics Retail—what should be the standard 

that they are imposing upon all of the other companies so that the 

bad ones know that they are going to have a scarlet letter, a scarlet 

D on their corporate foreheads? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Again, if they eliminate their ability to— 

NTIA—— 

Mr. MARKEY. I understand. What can the association do as well 

to kind of reinforce it from a corporate perspective? This the image 

of the Consumer Electronics Retail—what is the final C? Coalition. 

I am sorry. Coalition. Yes. 

198 

Mr. RIPPERTON. The key focus would be to remove their ability 

to redeem the coupon. And that would take away their ability—— 

Mr. MARKEY. And could the Consumer Electronics Retail Coalition actually promulgate that as a standard that you recommended 

that they have taken away from them? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. I would advocate the elimination of those companies to be able to redeem coupons would come from NTIA and FCC. 

Mr. MARKEY. But it also could come from you. It could be a recommendation from your organization to the NTIA. And I think that 

would get the attention of the organization if they got a letter from 

your organization saying all the good companies are recommending 

that all you bad companies out there as yet unnamed because you 

have yet to demonstrate a sufficient disinterest in the program, but 

could you do that for us? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Sir, I would have to take that under advisement 

and see whether that would be something—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Why wouldn’t your organization want to set a 

standard? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. I would take that under advisement with our 

legal counsel to see if that is something that we could pursue. Certainly it sounds theoretically like something we would take under 

consideration. 

Mr. MARKEY. OK. Could you—I don’t know if you will be the witness at the next hearing, but could you tell the witness at the next 

hearing that they are going to be answering that question? And if 

your group hasn’t done it by then, then I will have a different tone 

of voice with that witness at that time, and it will be my entire 

round of questions. So you should just warn whoever that person 

is that gets the baton from you for the next group in the organization as well. We will have his printed name out here so we will 

know whether or not they actually took a position. 

Let me turn here and recognize the gentleman from San Antonio 

once again. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. 

Ripperton, I have a local provider, they are H-E-B, and they are 

saying they are having problems because they are only going to 

carry analog pass-through. And it is my understanding from your 

testimony that RadioShack—I think that is the direction that you 

all will be moving—is that analog pass-through capable converters 

are the only ones you will be stocking. Is that true? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Yes, sir, that is absolutely true. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And that is going to the Consumers’ Choice and 

for good reason. 

Do you acknowledge that there is a problem stocking a sufficient 

number to meet the demand under the present circumstances? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. As I previously testified, the extraordinary demand for these converter boxes is certainly challenging retailer 

supply chains. And our solution to that, when and if we have 

stockouts and gaps in our inventory, that we have been—— 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And I want to get to that. But I just wanted an 

acknowledgement from one of the major retailer providers out 

there, RadioShack, because you really are one of the good guys, and 

I commend you and thank you very much for stepping up to the 

plate to help us with this, that there is a problem with supply, 

199 

whether it is a smaller provider such as H-E-B, or it is RadioShack, 

which is nationwide. 

Now, if we continue with an expiration date—I guess what I 

want to get to, we had better leave here today with some understanding of what direction we are going to be taking. Mr. Stupak 

suggested, but I believe that Dr. McGuire-Rivera said, no, we don’t 

want to do that, and I understand, and that is that you would simply hold the card; he goes in with the coupon, you don’t have the 

converter box, so you just hold it. The problem with that is it has 

got an expiration date. I am not sure I want to hold that thing because you are charged with that responsibility. Are you supposed 

to return it to me before the expiration date? And if you don’t, do 

I blame you? 

If I understand Congressman’s Stupak’s suggestion—so really 

the only answer here is probably to somehow extend or—the date 

of expiration, allow the use. I mean, it is incredible to think that 

58 percent did not redeem the coupon. How many of those are 

households that are analog only? This is incredible what we are 

going to be facing. And I guess I just don’t understand. But I think 

we have uniformity here, and we need to do something about the 

expiration date, correct? 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Yes, sir. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. All right. I want to thank each and every one of 

the witnesses. 

I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your indulgence. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman. 

What we are going to do is a series of roll calls on the House 

floor right now. I am going to give each one of you 1 minute to tell 

us what we should know at this critical juncture as we round the 

bend here heading for the stretch. I give you each 1 minute to tell 

us what it is that you think our committee should know as we really break here for the roll calls. We will begin with you, Mr. Rossi. 

Mr. ROSSI. I would just say that we are going to be providing updates on a regular basis, including looking at not just what we 

have looked at so far, but different areas such as socioeconomic indicators and such as far as how readiness goes. So we will be doing 

that over a period time so we can trend it over time, and we think 

it will be very valuable information. 

The other thing I would say is we do have an auditing process 

within our system that goes back and checks on those folks who go 

into the homes to see what is happening in those homes, and we 

have good faith in that information that we get from the homes. 

Mr. MARKEY. But again, they are Nielsen homes, which are television-sensitive homes because they know they are a Nielsen home. 

Mr. ROSSI. Beyond that, we do make an extra effort not to influence that home in any way, and we actually don’t ask them any 

questions about the digital transition. 

Mr. MARKEY. But as you know the old saying, to observe something is to affect something. So once someone knows the Nielsen 

company is coming to your home, the other two homes on the other 

side—— 

Mr. ROSSI. We just do our best to make sure we go. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Ripperton. 

Mr. RIPPERTON. Thank you, Congressman Markey. 

200 

There are definitely challenges with this remarkable program. In 

my 32 years in logistics, this is one of the most challenging products that I have ever seen. We are working closely with our suppliers to meet that demand. We have pass-through boxes, and I 

want to emphasize pass-through boxes were one of the first to be 

there. We have solutions now to meet our consumers’ demand. We 

are in your neighborhoods. We are going to ask the questions to 

solve the problems, unique problems for your constituents and our 

consumers. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Ripperton. 

Mr. McTear. 

Mr. MCTEAR. Mr. Chairman, just to assure you and the committee that the broadcasters will work together with the cable operators, with the satellites to get the date affirmed in everyone’s 

mind; that is, September 8th there is a transition. We will use the 

power of our news for our television station, our on-air editorials, 

and we also have reached an agreement with an FM station to simulcast our broadcast signal in case there is a hurricane and a disaster. And we have just begun the discussions with a brand new 

Spanish-language radio station in the market so that we can make 

sure that message goes to the Spanish-speaking population. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. McTear. And we thank you for 

coming forward and being a part of this experiment in Wilmington. 

Mr. Lloyd. 

Mr. LLOYD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I just wanted to assert that the Leadership Conference on Civil 

Rights and our member organizations will work with NTIA, the 

FCC and other organizations to get the word out about the coupon 

program and the transition. We believe in order to reach the vulnerable populations you have to reach deep into the communities 

to not only let people know this transition is occurring, but to help 

them physically connect boxes and understanding why this is important to them, and we need additional support in order to get 

that done. Thank you again. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Lloyd. 

Ms. Cannon. 

Ms. CANNON. Well, Time Warner Cable and the other operators 

are committed to this program. We are committed to being a great 

community partner, and we understand the message might not be 

enough, and we are here to help get the message across, happily. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Ms. Cannon. 

Mr. Romeo. 

Mr. ROMEO. First, I would just like to say that the program, I 

think, has been a great success to date. The volume of orders talks 

about the communication, the message. The fact that 40 percent of 

the callers are Hispanic-speaking or Spanish-speaking says that we 

were getting to the target markets that are most needing of this 

service. And the fact that so many retailers have stepped up and 

participated in a voluntary market I think are all great. Thanks for 

the program. 

The things that I think need to happen now are prepare for the 

volume. We know that 33 million coupons are what is written into 

the rule, and that 33 million coupons are going to be shipped by 

October. The question around allowing people to reorder after expiVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:50 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00206 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS\110-124 CHRIS
201 

ration has an impact on the volume of coupons that will be ordered. 

So those are decisions I would ask you to make because they are 

in the law. So I would ask for resolution of that and help in preparing for the additional volume. 

Mr. MARKEY. OK. Thank you, Mr. Romeo, very much. We thank 

you for your recommendation. 

We thank all of you for your participation in this process, which 

is going to be continuing and intensifying as we get closer to actually the Wilmington date. That will be highly illuminating, and 

then on into the fall. But again, thanks to the committee. 

This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:53 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:] 

STATEMENT OF HON. BARON P. HILL

Thank you, Chairman Markey, for holding this hearing and also to the panel witnesses for the opportunity to discuss the progress of the digital television transition. 

With only 252 days left before the DTV transition on February 17, 2009, there are 

still many questions left unanswered, new questions to be raised, and more solutions to be found. 

As of last week, more than 14 million coupons had been mailed to households. 

I believe this statistic displays the effectiveness of the educational efforts made by 

the Federal Government, the industry, and Members of Congress so far. However, 

we all need to continue our efforts to reach all pockets of the country. 

I specifically want to commend the efforts made by the broadcasters and the cable 

industry to educate the public on their options for the DTV transition through TV 

commercials and consumer-friendly Web sites. These consumer education efforts 

stress the transition date of February 17, 2009, and I encourage this Committee to 

maintain a date certain. 

Additionally, the test market transition in Wilmington, NC will provide us with 

5 months to find solutions to any unforeseen incidents that arise. Again, I encourage 

all of us to continue our outreach efforts through Web sites, mailings, and handouts. 

I yield back the rest of my time. 

STATEMENT OF HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

Thank you, Chairman Markey and Ranking Member Stearns, for holding this 

hearing. Our continued and vigorous oversight of all issues surrounding the DTV 

transition serves a crucial role in making sure that our constituents can enjoy the 

enhanced consumer and public safety benefits that this transition will provide. It 

is important to make sure that the transition date does not slip. I commend my colleagues on this subcommittee for their attention to this issue. 

I would like to welcome the witnesses and thank them for their work. I am particularly interested to hear of the plans for a test run in North Carolina. This is 

an excellent way to find and avoid pitfalls as we move forward. 

I remain concerned that seniors, non-English speaking, and lower income Americans are underserved by the public education campaign about the Coupon Program 

underway. I am eager to see if this is reflected in the data that has been gathered 

as the coupons have started going out. 

I look forward to the witnesses’ suggestions about what if anything Congress can 

do to make sure this transition is as smooth as possible. 

Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time. 

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