STATUS OF THE DTV TRANSITION: 370 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 

FEBRUARY 13, 2008 

Serial No. 110–88 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

energycommerce.house.gov 

STATUS OF THE DTV TRANSITION: 370 DAYS AND COUNTING 

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

55–219 PDF 2008

STATUS OF THE DTV TRANSITION: 370 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 

FEBRUARY 13, 2008 

Serial No. 110–88 

( 

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, 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, 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 State of 

Massachusetts, opening statement ..................................................................... 1 

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

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

Hon. Jane Harman, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, opening statement .................................................................................... 4 

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

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

Hon. Lois Capps, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, 

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

Hon. Hilda Solis, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, 

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

Hon. John D. Dingell, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, opening statement ....................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 

Hon. Anna G. Eshoo, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, opening statement .................................................................................... 10 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 

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

opening statement ................................................................................................ 11 

WITNESSES

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

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 17 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 198 

Meredith Baker, Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, Department of Commerce, Washington, DC ............................................. 37 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 39 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 191 

Ronald J. Bruno, President, Community Broadcasters Association, President, 

Bruno-Goodworth Network, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ............................ 68 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 70 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 194 

Kyle McSlarrow, President and CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications 

Association, Washington, DC .............................................................................. 71 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 73 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 316 

David K. Rehr, President and CEO, National Association of Broadcasters, 

Washington, DC ................................................................................................... 79 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 81 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 320 

Chris Murray, Senior Counsel, Consumers Union, Washington, DC .................. 113 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 115 

Tom Romeo, Director, Federal Services, Global Business Service, IBM Corporation, Bethesda, Maryland ............................................................................. 119 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 120 

Laurance Harris, Vice President of Merchandising, RadioShack, Fort Worth, 

Texas ..................................................................................................................... 122 

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

Mark Jackson, President, Echostar Technologies Corporation, Englewood, Colorado ...................................................................................................................... 134

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 135 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 318 

Page

VI 

SUBMITTED MATERIAL

Graph entitled ‘‘Coupon Statistics’’ ........................................................................ 146 

LPTV station list ..................................................................................................... 152 

Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes (CECB), list of ................................................. 189 

(1) 

STATUS OF THE DTV TRANSITION: 370 DAYS 

AND COUNTING 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS

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

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:30 a.m., in room 

2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward J. Markey (chairman) presiding. 

Members present: Representatives Markey, Harman, Gonzalez, 

Inslee, Boucher, Eshoo, Stupak, Green, Capps, Solis, Dingell (ex 

officio), Stearns, Upton, Deal, Shimkus, Walden, Terry, Barton (ex 

officio), and Blackburn. 

Staff present: Amy Levine, Mark Seifert,Tim Powderly, Maureen 

Flood, Colin Crowell, David Vogel, Philip Murphy, Neil Fried, 

Courtney Reinhard, and Garrett Golding. 

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

Mr. MARKEY. Good morning, ladies and gentleman, and before I 

start I just want to note for the members that last night Congressman Pickering and I introduced legislation to preserve Internet 

freedom for consumers and innovators. It is a bill which enshrines 

the broad principles of openness and safeguarding the Internet’s 

vital role in our economy. It tasks the FCC with conducting an assessment of broadband practices and consumer rights including 

public hearings and a report back to Congress. We would welcome 

members who wish to co-sponsor to join us in this bipartisan initiative. 

Today we are 370 days away from a significant milestone in the 

history of television. This morning’s hearing will give us an important status check on our progress towards a successful consumer 

friendly transition. The government’s coupon program has begun 

and already this year some 2.5 million consumers have requested 

coupons toward the purchase of converter boxes valued at roughly 

$190 million. Retailers are stocking such converter boxes on 

shelves for coupon redemption imminently. The broadcasting cable 

industries have stepped up to air public service announcements 

and engage in consumer outreach as well. The details of the national plan to effectuate this transition were embodied in a budget 

act in the last Congress and were not endorsed by many members 

on the Democratic side of the aisle, including myself and Chairman 

Dingell. 

2 

Nevertheless, we are committed to trying to make this plan 

work. Toward that goal, this subcommittee intends to continue vigorous oversight of the DTV transition and to work closely with our 

Republican colleagues to insure success. Today there are several 

issues at the moment that merit our attention. First, we are eager 

to be reassured that the converter box program and redemption 

process is working smoothly. Second, because the signal characteristics of digital transmission and the anticipated geographic coverage area for individual broadcasters are different than for analog 

television many consumers may not receive the digital version of 

channels they currently receive after the switch. 

It is important to know how many such households will be affected by this and the extent to which households may need to adjust or acquire antennas to receive digital signals. Third, there are 

hundreds of low power television stations and thousands of translators that will not be converting to digital in February of next 

year. It is still unclear how many communities and how many television households will be affected by this. In addition, only a small 

percentage of the approved converter boxes permit the so-called 

pass through of the analog signals so that consumers can easily see 

both digital and analog television in markets where some broadcasters will convert and others won’t. It is vital to insure that steps 

are taken by the FCC and the NTIA to coordinate on these matters 

with the affected industries so that the consumer education and 

outreach efforts effectively guards against widespread consumer 

confusion in these communities. 

And finally I want to commend several major retailers for taking 

action to limit consumer confusion. It has been my concern that 

analog only televisions remains on the shelves of major retailers 

and could result in consumers unwittingly purchasing a TV set due 

to need additional equipment in little over one year. Best Buy has 

already voluntarily removed its analog inventory from the shelves, 

and RadioShack is poised to do so by March 1. In addition, I have 

this announcement to read from Wal-Mart today. ‘‘Although retailers are not prohibited from selling TVs with an analog tuner, WalMart believes it is important consistent with congressional concern 

and counsel from Chairman Markey to remove the very small number of TVs with an analog tuner from our inventory. This is consistent with Wal-Mart’s early commitment to the NTIA converter 

box program and to otherwise facilitating transition to all digital 

television broadcasting. We are currently working with return centers and the Wal-Mart Foundation to determine the best way to 

handle the remaining inventory, which was extremely small, approximately 1/10th of 1 percent of existing television inventory.’’ 

This statement is effective as of yesterday, so I want to commend 

Wal-Mart, Best Buy, RadioShack, and other retailers who are taking this welcome step. 

And I urge all retailers to take the same step and to take it immediately so the consumers are not misled that the television set, 

the analog television set, that they may be buying will work next 

year without additional help. Again, we have many issues to discuss and examine, and I want to thank all of our witnesses for 

their willingness to attend this hearing, and I look forward to their 

testimony. And now I will turn and recognize the ranking member 

3 

of the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, the 

gentleman from Florida, my good friend, Mr. Stearns. 

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

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I am pleased to be 

here as the ranking member and I always look forward to working 

with you. I hope with this net neutrality bill that you adopted will 

have many hearings to vet the language so we can all understand 

how it is enshrined. So we will look forward to that. I think by setting the date of February 17, 2009, as the date for full power 

broadcasters to transmit exclusively the digital format, the DTV 

legislation gave industry I think the needed incentives to prepare 

for the transition. And I think the results, as you briefly mentioned, are working well. With over a year to go manufacturers 

have already designed 37 coupon-eligible converter boxes. The 

NTIA has certified 250 retailers with a total of 15,000 stores ready 

to accept these coupons. 

Consumers have requested almost 5 million coupons suggesting 

awareness is not necessarily a big problem. The National Telecommunication and Information Administration will start sending 

coupons to consumers next week, and RadioShack, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart have already announced they are ready to 

accept them. A Consumer Electronics Association survey of 2,000 

U.S. adults indicates consumer awareness of the transition has 

grown 80 percent since the year 2006. According to the CEA survey, the joint educational efforts of government and the private sector are working, and the digital television transition will be a success. CEA’s research revealed that the top sources consumers are 

using to learn about the transition includes television, about 72 

percent, family and friends, about 40 percent, and the Internet 

about 25 percent. This shows that the educational campaigns by 

the industry and the government are working indeed. The National Association of Broadcasters has spent more than $1 

billion on a comprehensive consumer education drive. Included in 

their campaign are public service announcement in both English 

and Spanish, DTV messages running across programming on local 

stations, and a media blitz to promote the DTV transition. Cable 

operators have launched a $200 million public education campaign 

and committed to carrying both the analog and digital signals of 

both a full power commercial must carry broadcasters for 3 years 

to help smooth the DTV transition. My colleagues, these examples 

demonstrate that a market based approach works. All these groups 

and many others should be commended for their efforts. The benefits of the DTV transition extends far beyond that of clearer pictures and more choices about what program to watch. 

The real benefits will come from what is done with the radio 

spectrum once the TV broadcasters are cleared including providing 

public safety with the resources they need to insure reliable, interoperable communications now and into the future. Although the 

number of people using over the air signal is decreasing there still 

needs to be in place a system to help consumers who may wish to 

use analog television with over the air antennas after the transition. The DTV legislation gives the NTIA up to $1.5 billion for a 

4 

digital to analog converter box program. The statute directs DTIA 

to use $990 million to enable U.S. households to request up to 2 

$40 coupons for use towards purchase of converter boxes. If the 

NTIA certifies to Congress as the program progresses that it needs 

more money there is available another $510 million. 

So it is important that we don’t make any rash changes today. 

Doing so will only recreate the uncertainty that was delaying the 

transition in the first place and preventing us from clearing spectrum for public safety in advance wireless service, the third generation. For example, low power broadcasters are now demanding that 

NTIA require all converter boxes to include an analog pass through 

and that the FCC give them must carry rights. Neither is necessary. There are already 4 coupon-eligible converter box with low 

power pass through features and there is more on the way. The 

market is taking care of this. Changing the box requirements now 

by contrast could lead retailers and manufacturers to withdraw 

from the program altogether, and expanding must carry could force 

programming off of cable system right as we are going through this 

very delicate transition. 

We are much better off keeping the current course and assessing 

as we move along. Wholesale changes could put the transition in 

jeopardy, and I don’t think any one of us want that. These are important issues, Mr. Chairman. We thank you for this hearing, and 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman. The chair recognizes the 

gentlelady from California, Ms. Harman. 

Ms. HARMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I see a former colleague 

of ours, Ron Klink, in the audience, and I thought I would acknowledge him. And I thank you for holding this hearing on what I believe is a critical subject. I would like to address a few comments 

to Chairman Martin. Good morning. 

Mr. MARTIN. Good morning. 

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

Ms. HARMAN. Chairman Martin, your appearances before this 

subcommittee give many of us the chance on a regular basis to tell 

you what you are doing wrong but today I thought we might acknowledge or I would like to acknowledge what you are doing right. 

This 700 megahertz auction began on time. It has largely succeeded. And the open access conditions that many of us argued for 

have stuck. Congratulations. Though the D block, which the commission set aside for a nationwide public safety network has not 

yet sold and likely will not, something that troubles me greatly, I 

still think we should applaud you for your boldness in pursuing a 

multi-faceted plan and that applause obviously extends to the other 

members of the commission. But as the ranking member just said, 

and as you know I agree, the point of the DTV transition is not 

converter boxes. The point of it is to satisfy a 6-year quest for a 

nationwide public safety broadband network that gives us true 

interoperable communications for emergency responders. 

That need has been apparent since 9/11, maybe even before 9/11, 

and we are not much closer to meeting that need now than we 

were six years ago. As I often say, we have a regional operability 

5 

but we do not have national interoperability, and we won’t have it 

until this spectrum becomes available. I think a public-private 

partnership using 700 megahertz spectrum is still our best hope. 

I think that the failure of the D block auction if it has failed or 

if it does fail does not signal the failure of the public-private partnership concept. If the auction ends without a D block winner, I 

hope that you and we will not only meet informally but then we 

will have a series of hearings which the chairman has said he will 

hold to review next steps and to come up quickly with a new plan 

D. Do I have that right? Not a plan B, a plan D. 

Mr. MARKEY. D for do over. 

Ms. HARMAN. That is the chairman’s humor. D for do over. OK. 

Whatever we come up with, a new plan to reach true interoperability by the appropriate deadline. The goal should be a new option with a new set of rules that addresses the faults of the current 

auction but protects public safety’s needs. I think we should, as I 

said, get on with this quickly once we determine for certain what 

the future, if any, is of the D block part of the auction. The DTV 

transition must yield a solution to first responders emergency communications needs, not just the budget converter boxes. A nationwide solution is long overdue. We still have time to get it right, and 

I urge us to get it right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Gonzalez. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Waive opening. 

Mr. MARKEY. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia, 

Mr. Boucher. 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, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, 

and thank you for attending the O&I hearing yesterday afternoon. 

You added to it. Thank you. 370 days from now America will officially stop all of its analog broadcasts for full power television stations but approximately 2,100 low power television stations and 

4,700 translator stations will still be broadcast in analog. Many 

parts of America will be receiving their over the air signals in both 

analog and digital. This information has not been clearly provided 

to the American public. Many don’t even know that there will be 

stations that still broadcast in analog, let alone that they need to 

purchase a specific converter box with an analog pass through or 

they will lose channels. 

Out of the 35 converter boxes available on the market only 3 

carry this essential component so this makes effective consumer 

education even more important. Until the morning of this hearing 

if you want to the National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration’s DTV coupon web site and clicked on the link entitled questions about low power translator stations you viewed a 1- 

page with 1 sentence stating that ‘‘information about the impact of 

the digital transition on low power stations coming soon.’’ Conveniently thought I checked and now it has some low power TV information and several options for consumers. This is unacceptable. 1.6 

million Americans have already signed up for coupons on this web 

6 

site, and a valuable opportunity to provide them with key information was missed. 

Ms. Baker, as head of the NTIA I want to know what you will 

do in order to improve consumer education. Many of those who will 

be affected will come from rural districts like mine but many will 

also come from urban districts. I look forward to learning how you 

plan to inform my constituents that many of them will need an 

analog pass through converter box, not just a converter box but a 

pass through converter box. Chairman Martin, you recently circulated some proposals to be addressed by the FCC later this 

month regarding satellite providers, and I wanted to focus on one 

of them, Liberty Media’s acquisition of News Corp’s stake in 

DirecTV. 

In 2004 News Corp acquired DirecTV and pledged to provide 

local into local carriage in all 210 designated market areas by 2008. 

Commissioner Adelstein at the time called News Corp pledge to 

provide universal local to local a sham. Sadly enough, the News 

Corp efforts to sell their share of DirecTV we are seeing his prediction come true. Satellite subscribers in rural America are tired 

of being ignored. I urge the FCC to work towards insuring rural 

television markets are created equally to their urban counterparts. 

It is time for Congress and the FCC to look at a hard date for mandatory local to local carriage in all 210 designated market areas. 

I am quite tired of hearing pledges that go unfulfilled. Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding this hearing. I look forward to 

the testimony of the witnesses as there are some very important 

issues we must discuss. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Capps. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LOIS CAPPS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Ms. CAPPS. I will be brief, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you 

for holding this hearing, and thank you also for your vigilant oversight of the DTV transition which has resulted in a greater focus 

on consumer concerns and a greater understanding of the challenges we face as we move ahead. Today’s hearing promises to be 

a bit more technical in nature. We will talk about class C television 

stations, analog pass through, and the technical specs of converter 

boxes. And I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses and our 

conversation with them. During this discussion it is my hope we 

keep sight of the reason we are transitioning to digital television 

and the reason we are all here today in the interest of the American people. Even as we move toward a single digital signal over 

our public air waves, we are sending mixed signals to consumers 

about how they can continue to receive the same local and cultural 

content. 

I am particularly concerned about my Spanish-speaking constituents, many of whom enjoy Spanish language channels brought to 

them via translator or low power stations. These folks may be completely shut out during this transition so I look forward to this testimony, as I said, and the proposals that Chairman Martin and 

Acting Assistant Secretary Baker will bring us to further discussion about how we can avoid this kind of break down, how will we 

7 

streamline this transition for low power television stations. I want 

to also hear more about how and where converter boxes will be 

made available, some of which had already come from our chairman, what labeling procedures make the best sense for all kinds 

of consumers. So thank you, Chairman Markey, and to our witnesses today. I yield back. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Solis. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. HILDA SOLIS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Ms. SOLIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning. Thank 

you also for being here, Commissioner Martin, and Ms. Baker. I 

want to thank the witnesses for being here that will also be testifying. With just more than a year left before our full power broadcast television stations transition to digital we are learning about 

the new challenges and must work very hard to address all of these 

issues. I am particularly concerned, as you know, about the DTV 

transition along the U.S.-Mexican border. With ample analog Spanish language programming originating in Mexico it is still available. After the transition along the border low cable and satellite 

penetration and language barriers could leave thousands and thousands of households behind in DTV transition. 

That is why I am introducing the DTV Border Fix Act to provide 

full power broadcasters within 50 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border 

the opportunity to continue analog broadcasts for 5 years after the 

DTV transition. The bill insures that border area viewers will continue to receive emergency information and use over the U.S. television broadcast system. The bill is limited in scope and would 

work in cooperation with the FCC so that such broadcasts do not 

interfere with the public interest or spectrum auctions. 

I also have concerns about the challenges facing low power TV 

and how the need for analog pass through boxes can be met for 

both low power TV and the border region. We need to work together, both the government and the private sector, to make sure 

that the right boxes are stocked in appropriate areas. In addition, 

I am concerned about potential problems existing over the air antennas receiving digital television signals. If consumers are to receive fewer channels in digital and even if the picture quality is superior as compared to analog services because of inadequate antennas consumers may be less inclined to transition to DTV and feel 

they need to subscribe to cable or satellite service. 

We must make sure that all consumers regardless of their income level continue to receive expected services, so I look forward 

to hearing your testimony, and again want to hear comments regarding the transition that will occur along the U.S.-Mexican border because I really do believe that we are going to disenfranchise 

a very large population. And with that, I yield back the balance of 

my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from 

Michigan, Mr. Dingell. 

8 

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

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your kindness. I 

commend you for holding this meeting, which is an important one, 

on a very important subject, and I commend you for the vigor with 

which you are going into this matter. I want to begin by welcoming 

Meredith Baker, who is the new acting head of NTIA. I want to say 

that I appreciate her willingness to work with the Congress and 

her leadership and her effort to help achieve a successful transition 

on digital TV service. This is very important, and quite frankly it 

represents something of a welcome change in some of the policies 

we have seen from this Administration, so congratulations and welcome. 

Mr. Chairman, today we address an issue that is soon going to 

affect millions of American households, and I commend you for 

your leadership and vigorousness in this matter. I refer to the digital TV, or DTV, transition. We are just a little over a year away 

from the end of the transition, at which time a lot of television sets 

around the country are going to go dark, and much remains to be 

done. Consumers must be properly educated, and they are not. 

Both the Federal Communications Commission and a number of industries stand to benefit handsomely from this matter and they all 

have responsibilities of the most serious sort with regard to these 

matters. As February 17, 2009 nears, we must learn of new steps 

that must be taken, and I note that time is running short and the 

American consuming public has little appreciation of what lies before them. 

The FCC has recently requested $20 million for DTV consumer 

education in fiscal year 2009. I still find this amount, however, 

woefully short and inadequate for an educational campaign that is 

to reach some 300 million Americans. Chairman Martin has also 

circulated an order regarding consumer education in response to a 

letter sent by you, Mr. Chairman, and by me. I commend you for 

moving forward on this important matter, and I look forward to the 

cooperation and assistance of Chairman Martin and to hearing 

from and seeing vigorous agency action on this question. This 

week, Mr. Chairman, you and I, joined by 19 of our colleagues, sent 

a letter to NTIA concerning reissuing converter box coupons to consumers whose original coupons have expired. 

This 90-day coupon expiration date is cause for concern because 

consumers might not be able to find stores with boxes in stock before the coupons expire. I understand, Ms. Baker, NTIA, along with 

their vendor, IBM, are working to resolve this problem, and I 

thank them for their efforts. 

We must be mindful of the situation confronting low power 

broadcasters. Only full power broadcasters are required to transition to digital next year. Low power and translator stations may 

take more time. This means that in some markets some stations 

will be broadcasting only in digital after February 17, 2009, while 

other stations will continue to broadcast in analog. This could lead 

to some very serious complications and complexities. 

The potential for confusion here appears high for those consumers that acquire a digital converter box and then are not able 

9 

to receive analog channels. This has the potential for more mischief 

and confusion. I want to applaud those manufacturers who have included an analog pass through feature in their converter boxes to 

address this problem, as well as those who are in the process of 

adding this feature. I urge NTIA to quickly approve these boxes. 

I also expect low power and translator stations to do their part to 

educate their viewers about the need to purchase a converter box 

with analog pass through capabilities, and of course we need those 

kinds of boxes at an early time. Finally, some of the biggest beneficiaries of the DTV transition are the nation’s retailers. The converter box coupon campaign and program will plow more than $1 

billion into the stores of eligible retailers. 

Some consumers will choose to buy new televisions instead of 

converter boxes and many will purchase other items, such as CDs 

or video games, while they are in the store using coupons. For retailers, the DTV transition will certainly be profitable. I therefore 

urge the industry to be vigorous in its efforts to properly educate 

consumers. I am told as of yesterday that Wal-Mart no longer has 

analog only televisions on its shelves, and last year Best Buy 

pulled all analog stock from its stores. RadioShack has agreed to 

ship converter boxes to consumers free of charge and remove all 

analog sets from its stores by March 1. I applaud these decisions. 

They are pro-consumer. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership in this matter, and I look forward to the testimony today. 

Thank you. I yield back the balance of my time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Dingell follows:] 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

Today we again address an issue that will soon affect millions of American households—the digital TV (DTV) transition. We are just over a year away from the end 

of the transition, and much remains to be done. Consumers must be properly educated. Both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the several industries that stand to benefit handsomely have responsibilities in this regard. As February 17, 2009, nears, we learn of new steps that must be taken, and time is running short. 

The FCC has recently requested $20 million for DTV consumer education in fiscal 

year 2009. I still find this amount, however, woefully inadequate for an educational 

campaign that must reach more than 300 million Americans. 

Chairman Martin has also circulated an Order regarding consumer education in 

response to a letter sent by Chairman Markey and me. I commend the Chairman 

for moving forward on this important matter and look forward to agency action on 

this question. 

This week, Chairman Markey and I, joined by 19 of our colleagues, sent a letter 

to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) concerning reissuing converter box coupons to consumers whose original coupons have 

expired. The 90-day coupon expiration date is a cause for concern because consumers might be unable to find stores with boxes in stock before their coupons expire. I understand that Ms. Baker and the NTIA, along with their vendor IBM, are 

working to solve this problem, and I thank them for their efforts. 

We must be mindful of the situation confronting low power broadcasters. Only full 

power broadcasters are required to transition to digital next year - low power and 

translator stations may take more time. This means that in some markets, some 

stations will be broadcasting only in digital after February 17, 2009, while other stations will continue to broadcast in analog. The potential for confusion appears high 

for those consumers that acquire a digital converter box and then are not able to 

receive analog channels. 

I applaud those manufacturers who have included an analog pass-through feature 

in their converter boxes to address this problem, as well as those who are in the 

process of adding this feature. I urge NTIA to quickly approve these boxes. I also 

10 

expect low power and translator stations to do their part to educate their viewers 

about the need to purchase a converter box with analog pass-through capabilities. 

Finally, some of the biggest beneficiaries of the DTV transition are the Nation’s 

retailers. The converter box coupon program will plow more than one billion dollars 

into the stores of eligible retailers. Some consumers will choose to buy new televisions instead of converter boxes, and many will purchase other items, such as CDs 

or video games, while they are in a store using their coupons. For retailers, the DTV 

transition will certainly be profitable. I therefore urge the industry to be vigorous 

in its efforts to properly educate consumers. I am told that as of yesterday, WalMart no longer has analog-only televisions on its shelves, and last year Best Buy 

pulled all analog stock from its stores. Radio Shack has agreed to ship converter 

boxes to consumers free of charge and will remove all analog sets from its stores 

by March 1. I applaud these pro-consumer decisions. 

Thank you again Mr. Chairman, and I look forward to the testimony. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 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 creating another excellent opportunity for our subcommittee to assess the progress on 

the digital transition. There are many issues. Of course members 

have raised them, and we know that there are still some that are 

left unresolved as we approach the 2009 deadline. It is nice to see 

you, Mr. Klink. I wish you were still up here. Today many members are going to be visited by their constituent public television 

stations, and the stations are going to express their concern that 

access to local public television stations digital programming is denied to almost half of all direct broadcast satellite households. Now 

that represents nearly 12 million households because one major 

DBS provider has failed to negotiate a long-term deal with public 

television. 

Last November I introduced a bill, H.R. 4121, to require DBS 

carriage of public television digital signals, and I am pleased that 

a little more than a month ago DirecTV, the Association for Public 

Television stations, and PBS announced that they had reached an 

agreement whereby DirecTV would carry public television stations 

digital signals. As we move closer to February 17, 2009, I think it 

is unacceptable for any household in the country to be denied access to public television’s digital programming. The American people love PBS, and we have done a lot of battles here over the years 

to help protect it so I don’t think this is a small item on the agenda. I am anxious to hear from Mr. Jackson, who is going to testify 

why EchoStar carries HD programming for all the major commercial networks but doesn’t provide HD programming produced by 

public television stations. 

And I will have more questions to ask in this particular area as 

well as other questions, so we are moving along. I think that there 

is some progress. I am disturbed most frankly, Mr. Chairman, not 

Chairman Markey but Chairman Martin, about the treatment of 

cable by you. I don’t know what cable has done to so enrage you 

but I think we need to have a conversation about that because we 

have important providers throughout the country and I think the 

relationships are really very important and I want to hear more 

11 

about what is so troubling you about them. So thank you, Chairman Markey, and I look forward to the testimony today. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Eshoo follows:] 

STATEMENT OF HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

Mr. Chairman today is another excellent opportunity for this Subcommittee to assess our progress on the digital transition. There are several issues that are still 

left unresolved as we approach the 2009 deadline. 

Today many Members will be visited by their constituent public television stations. The stations will express their concern that access to local public television 

stations’ digital programming is denied to almost half of all Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) households - that’s nearly 12 million households because one major DBS 

provider has failed to negotiate a long term deal with public television. 

Last November, I introduced H.R. 4121 to require DBS carriage of public television stations’ digital signals. I’m very pleased that, a little more than a month 

later, DlRECTV, Association for Public Television Stations (APTS) and PBS announced they reached an agreement whereby DIRECTV would carry public television stations’ digital signals. As we move closer to February 17, 2009, it is unacceptable for any household to be denied access to public television’s digital programming. 

I’m anxious to hear from Mr. Jackson why Echostar carries HD programming for 

all the major commercial networks but does not provide HD programming produced 

by public television stations. I’d also like to know the status of the negotiations between Echostar and public television stations on signing a long term agreement for 

the carriage of public television’s HD programming. 

I’m also interested to hear from Mr. Rehr of NAB about what commercial11 

broadcasters are planning for their multicast stations. Right now in my District not 

one commercial broadcaster produces additional content on these extra channels, except some who ai the weather radar 24 hours a day, but public television stations 

across the country are using their additional channels. In my District KQED has 

five new channels they are broadcasting today. KQED has a channel dedicated to 

children’s programming, and another 24 hour Spanish language channel. 

I’d like Mr. Rehr to explain why commercial broadcasters are not producing content for these extra channels. Why is public television able to produce and air this 

content while commercial broadcasters are leaving these channels fallow? 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentlelady. The chair recognizes the 

gentleman from Washington State, Mr. Inslee. 

Mr. INSLEE. I will waive, Mr. Chair. Thank you. 

Mr. MARKEY. 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. Chair, for having this hearing, and 

I hope over the next year we will continue to have these hearings 

and hopefully bring attention to the transition. In fact, maybe the 

folks who are responsible whether it be the news media or anyone 

else maybe we ought to treat the transition to DTV like we are seeing the presidential primaries. So much coverage on them, a lot 

more interest than in the past, and so for the next year I would 

hope we would do that because none of us want our constituents 

or your customers not to be able to watch TV. We are just over a 

year away from the transition date and there are still many questions and preparations and outreach efforts made by various government entities involved in the transition. 

Last week Wired News and Technology web site magazine ran an 

article to point out many of the same concerns that the subcommittee has been raising over the last year, lack of coordinated 

12 

consumer education program, having consumers apply for coupons 

before converter boxes were on the shelves. The 90-day expiration 

date of the coupons are major problems the article said, as well as 

members of the subcommittee have raised. Yesterday I joined 

Chairman Dingell and Chairman Markey and several members of 

our committee in sending a letter to Assistant Secretary Baker asking her to address one of these issues. 

Currently without boxes widely available it is unclear how readily consumers will be able to find an affordable coupon-eligible box. 

The 90-day expiration date could be a major complication for consumers if there is a disruption in production, shipping or stocking 

these boxes. Additionally, the article stated the Best Buy spokesman said their stores are only planning to carry one model converter box that sells for $59.99. Up selling has been a serious concern. I am afraid consumers will not be as prepared as they need 

to be or as many as the government thinks they will when they 

walk into the store looking for a converter box. The letter sent yesterday clarifies and under the statute creating these coupon programs NTIA can allow households to apply to have expired coupons 

reissued if there are sufficient funds. This would allow consumers 

more flexibility in finding converter boxes and address many supply problems that are out of their hands. 

I am concerned, however, that many consumers do not know 

about the program and how to apply for these coupons. Most estimates indicate 14 million to 20 million households allowing over 

the air broadcasts, yet according to NTIA stats earlier this week 

only 2.8 million households have applied for the coupons. Some 

households may go ahead and purchase a new set with the digital 

tuner whether than applying for converter box coupons but the 

number of the applications still seem low given that the program 

has been up and running for a month and a half, and I think more 

needs to be done to raise the awareness of the program. 

After the hearing last November Congressman Gonzalez and I 

sent a letter to the House Administration Committee, and we received certification that as members we can include coupon applications in our newsletters to our constituents, which I plan to do in 

one this spring. As far as I am concerned, public education is the 

most critical and least coordinated component of the transition, and 

we are relying too heavily on the private sector to address that 

component along with the 800 help lines need to be staffed so operators can help consumers when they call in. I understand there 

were problems with the Spanish language help line at the FCC earlier this year and I hope to hear Chairman Martin explain to us 

what you have done to correct that problem, and I will have some 

questions later on that issue. I thank you and yield back my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Shimkus. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Chairman, I think I feel like Groundhog Day, 

our fourth or fifth DTV hearing, so I think I will just yield back 

and wait for the testimony. I was just being a little jovial, Mr. 

Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. No, it is Groundhog Day, and we are going to have 

Groundhog Day over and over again on this transition because the 

consequences of not getting it right are catastrophic. So all time for 

13 

opening statements from members has expired. So we turn to our 

panel, and we welcome them to the subcommittee. We welcome you 

back, Chairman Martin. You have been a frequent guest before us 

over the last year. We thank you for that. And we congratulate 

you, Ms. Baker, for your promotion, and congratulations to you and 

thank you for joining this team to insure that this transition occurs 

on time and without a glitch, so we thank you both. Chairman 

Martin, the last time you were here I said that you were the Tom 

Brady of the transition. I would like to now say I would like you 

to be the Eli Manning of the transition, and my hope is that we 

can put a plan in place that will work. Whenever you are comfortable, please begin. 

STATEMENT OF KEVIN J. MARTIN, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL 

COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Mr. MARTIN. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Markey, and 

Ranking Member Stearns, and all the members of the committee. 

Thank you for once again inviting me to be here today to update 

you on the status of the digital transition. A little over one year 

from today all television stations will stop broadcasting in analog 

and only broadcast in digital. This transition will be a historic moment in the evolution of television. Television viewers will be able 

to enjoy movie quality picture and sound and potentially a wealth 

of new programming choices. It will also allow us to significantly 

improve public safety communications and will usher in a new era 

of advanced wireless services such as widespread deployment of 

wireless broadband. 

As I have testified previously successful digital transition will depend upon minimizing the burdens placed on consumers and maximizing their ability to benefit from it. Today’s hearing is a welcome 

opportunity to discuss the commission’s work both in terms of consumer outreach and education and the necessary regulatory steps, 

which we are taking so that all Americans can enjoy the benefits 

of this historic digital transition. The commission is working to put 

in place the rules and policies to enable broadcasters to technically 

complete the conversion from analog to digital. Last August we 

adopted the final DTV table of allotments based on the channel 

elections made by all the full power broadcast stations. This order 

provides virtually all, over 99 percent of television stations across 

the country with their final digital channel assignments. 

At the end of last year we also concluded our third DTV periodic 

review. In that order the commission established the procedures 

and rules that will guide the broadcasters through the end of the 

transition. We adopted procedures that will allow broadcasters to 

adjust their build out according to their needs and the needs of 

their viewers. Currently more than 95 percent of full power television stations are broadcasting a digital signal. Nearly two-thirds 

of the full power stations will remain on the same channel they are 

currently using for the digital services and most of these stations 

have already completed the construction and already providing full 

service to their viewers. 

We recognize it is important for the commission to continually 

monitor the broadcaster’s progress towards the transition, and accordingly we required each station to file periodic updates on the 

14 

status of the construction of the post-transition facility and in fact 

the first of such updates is due next week. The commission has before it an item that would enable satellite subscribers to receive 

digital broadcast signals. The pending item clarifies that when 

broadcasters make the transition it is the digital signal that their 

satellite operator must carry. Last fall the commission adopted an 

order that guarantees that all cable customers will be able to watch 

all broadcast stations after the digital transition. Specifically, the 

commission took action to insure that cable operators continue to 

make signals of all broadcast stations viewable after the transition 

as the statute requires. 

These items should help reduce the burden on consumers and 

thereby fostering a smooth transition. The commission’s DTV related enforcement efforts have focused on protecting consumers 

from unknowingly buying televisions that won’t receive broadcast 

stations following the transition. With respect to the commission’s 

labeling requirements, the commission has as of February 11, 

today, 2008, inspected 1,829 retail stores and web sites and issued 

316 citations notifying those retailers of violations for failing to 

comply with our requirements. We also have 14 NALs with $4 million total aggregate pending before the commission. 

In addition to our labeling investigations, we are continuing to 

insure that no manufacturers are importing and shipping analog 

only television receivers. We are also insuring that the digital tuners comply with the V-Chip regulations. Thanks to information referred to us by you, Mr. Chairman, we began investigating allegations that some manufacturers were not complying with these VChip rules. As a result of these investigations, we released an NAL 

against Funai Corporation for $7.7 million and NALs against 9 

other manufacturers for over $6.5 million are also on circulation. 

The swift enforcement of all these DTV-relates rules is critical to 

protecting consumers and reducing potential confusion. Our activities in this area will continue to be a priority during the next 12 

months. According to data from the Consumer Electronics Association and the National Association of Broadcasters there has been 

some success in making consumers aware of the transition. Recent 

surveys published by the NAB and Consumers Union found that 79 

percent and 64 percent of consumers were aware of the transition, 

respectively. 

While this increased awareness is a step in the right direction 

too many Americans remain confused about what they need to do 

to prepare for it. For instance, the Consumers Union reported that 

74 percent of consumers have major misconceptions about the impact that this conversion will have on them. Now that many consumers are aware of the transition, we need to focus our efforts 

and our outreach on sending them a clear and consistent message 

about how to get prepared. At the suggestion of Chairman Dingell 

and Chairman Markey the commission is considering a proposal to 

require the industry to use public service announcements, bill inserts, and other techniques to educate consumers about the transition. Just last Friday we received a proposal from the National Association of Broadcasters setting forth alternative actions as a safe 

harbor that broadcasters could take to educate consumers about 

the transition. 

15 

We are currently in the process of evaluating this new proposal 

and hope to finalize this item quickly. In addition to our DTV consumer education item, the commission is actively and directly promoting consumer awareness of the upcoming transition. Nearly 

every bureau and office of the commission has been involved in this 

effort including our field offices around the country. At the suggestion of several other commissioners, I have asked the Media Bureau Chief Monica Desai and Consumer and Government Affairs 

Bureau Chief Cathy Seidel to jointly lead an intra-agency task 

force of staff from the various bureaus and offices who are primarily working to facilitate the DTV transition over the next year. 

We are also utilizing commission staff located around the country. FCC field offices and FCC field agents are continuing to distribute information at senior centers, libraries, and other local 

venues. They have already distributed information to over 3,100 

senior and community seniors, made 385 presentations, and have 

106 scheduled in just the days ahead. We have also been forging 

new partnerships and participated in media events, attending conferences, and continuing to do whatever we can to get the word out. 

For example, DTV education posters will be displayed in all 34,000 

post offices around the country. The United States Postal Service 

estimates that an average of 9 million people pass through their retail lobbies each day. 

We have also secured commitments from 24 states, the District 

of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to display DTV materials in 1,100 

Department of Motor Vehicle locations. The FCC’s consumer efforts 

and outreach continue to place emphasis on consumers that receive 

their television signals over the air on those who are hard to reach 

including senior citizens, non-English speaking and minority communities, people with disabilities, and low income individuals and 

people living in rural areas. We have been taking several specific 

steps to reach each of these groups. For example, the AARP has 

agreed to disseminate digital transition information through its tax 

aid program that makes volunteers available to assist AARP members in preparing their taxes. We also know that the Hispanic community disproportionately relies on over the air television. Of the 

15 million broadcast only homes one-third is occupied by primarily 

Spanish-speaking homes. 

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Univision have agreed 

to join the commission in conducting DTV awareness sessions at 

the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and member chambers in the 

10 biggest cities nationwide which are home to 80 percent of the 

Hispanic population. The first of these sessions will be held later 

this month in Chicago. The commission is also taking steps to inform low income consumers about the transition to all digital 

broadcasting. For example, the Department of Health and Human 

Services has made a commitment to assist the FCC in disseminating DTV materials through at least 6 of their agencies to target 

populations including low income consumers. For example, through 

their administration for children and families they will distribute 

information through their approximately 1,500 Head Start grantees 

covering more than 6,000 locations throughout the country. 

And their Health Resources and Services Administration will distribute flyers and information through their 4,000 community 

16 

health centers. This morning I am also pleased to announce that 

today the commission’s contract and purchasing center were awarded a contract at Ketchum. Under this contract Ketchum is going to 

be responsible for assisting the FCC’s efforts to promote consumer 

awareness of the DTV transition. Specifically in the area of media 

services Ketchum provides full service production of multiple 

versions of TV and radio PSAs, web videos, educational videos, 

podcasts, and satellite media tours. The material developed will be 

produced in multiple languages and formats. 

In addition, Ketchum is planning to support advertising on transit systems in 18 cities in over 300 locations. Having awarded this 

contract, we are working with Ketchum to jump start our efforts 

by arranging a satellite media tour next week to highlight the 

switch to digital one year before the deadline. We are also asking 

Ketchum to develop specific plans for using grocery stores and 

other retail outlets frequented by our target audiences. Although I 

believe that a lot of progress has been made to facilitate a smooth 

transition there is obviously still more work to be done. For example, one of the areas that the commission has recently been spending a lot of time on is how to best insure that consumers will continue to be able to view low power television stations which are not 

required in transition to digital next year. 

I have proposed a goal of 2012 for all low power stations to transition to digital. In the mean time I have asked that the leaders 

of several industry organizations to take voluntary steps to help 

consumers continue to watch all broadcast television programming 

after the transition. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, right now you are 4 minutes over 

so if you could reach that summary. 

Mr. MARTIN. Sure. Certainly the next 12 months will be challenging. Nevertheless, it is my hope that through all the combined 

efforts of the government, industry, and consumer groups we will 

reap the rewards of the digital transition and the benefits it has 

to offer, and I look forward to continuing to work with this committee and all the members of Congress to answer their questions 

and work to make this a successful transition next year. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Martin follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thank you so much. I remember when I was a kid, 

Dick Tracey was my favorite comic strip and he hired this guy, 

Sam Ketchum, to be his assistant and we hope that your hiring of 

Ketchum will help you as well to solve this problem. So our next 

witness in her first appearance before the committee, the Honorable Meredith Baker, Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information from the Department of Commerce. We welcome you, and whenever you feel comfortable please begin. 

STATEMENT OF MEREDITH BAKER, ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Ms. BAKER. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and members of the 

subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here before you 

today and to discuss NTIA’s successful launch of the TV converter 

box coupon program and our strong commitment to continued public education and outreach efforts so that this historic and important transition can take place and no American television viewer 

is unprepared on February 18, 2009. On January 1 consumers 

across the nation successfully and efficiently began to order coupons by phone, mail, fax, and on line. Consumers from every state 

in the nation applied on the first day. By the end of the first week 

NTIA had received over 1.1 million requests for 2.1 million coupons. While this initial volume was high all systems continued to 

handle requests. 

To date, NTIA has accepted more than 2.4 million household requests for more than 4.8 million coupons. Approximately 47 percent 

of these households have identified themselves as reliant on over 

the air television. On the average, 64.5 percent are applying on the 

web, 34.9 percent by phone, only 0.5 percent by mail, and .1 percent by fax. The overwhelming majority have been able to complete 

the application process in minutes with ease. We have made some 

adjustments and improvements as we learn about consumer experiences. For example, we have added more Spanish language operators and a Spanish language IBR. Those Spanish and English languages now have a wait time of less than 20 seconds for a live operator. Interest in the TV converter box program and demand for 

coupons indicate that consumers are becoming increasingly aware 

of the DTV transition and the program. 

Thanks go to NAB, CTA, CEA, and other members of the DTV 

coalition. By our estimate our consumer education efforts have attracted upwards of 350 million print and broadcast media impressions related to the program since September of last year. While 

we at NTIA have done over 60 interviews since the beginning of 

this year Secretary Gutierrez himself has done 25, actually over 25, 

because he did Good Morning America this morning, interviews on 

the transition in both Spanish and in English since January 1. 

NTIA’s consumer education campaign focuses on the role of the 

coupon program during the transition and leverages opportunities 

for partnership, We, with Ketchum, which is a good choice by the 

FCC, have developed a comprehensive took kit which is information to make participation of partners easy such as flyers, enclosures, and sample PSAs. 

38 

NTIA’s consumer education partners currently include over 130 

social service and community organizations which serve our vulnerable communities, the low income, the seniors, the rural residents, 

the minorities, and the disabled Americans. More than 15 Federal 

agencies have committed to use their existing channels to get the 

word out about the coupon program. Chairman Martin outlined 

some of these. Some other examples are the VA. The VA is 

leveraging their incredible network that touches 24 million veterans. The Department of Agriculture will distribute information 

with their food stamps program and their school lunch program, 

and HHS will be activating the Administration on Aging. 

NTIA has been greatly encouraged by the robust participation of 

manufacturers and retailers in the coupon program. As of yesterday we had certified 37 converter boxes that meet our specifications. These boxes are priced between $40 and $70. We are continuing to review and certify boxes as manufacturers come into this 

program, and we have offered expedited recertification for the 

version 2.0 boxes that are submitted with added analog pass 

through feature. We received notices of intent from more than half 

a dozen manufacturers with approved converters that claim to 

produce a converter box with an analog pass through. NTIA will 

begin mailing coupons to consumers next week. They look like this. 

NTIA and IBM have been working closely with participating consumer electronics to calibrate the release of the coupon with the 

supply of the converter boxes. The agency has certified more than 

615 retailers at this point to participate in the program which represents 16,000 outlets nationwide. To assist these retailers in ordering their inventory NTIA has made available on the web as well 

as to the retailers a number of coupons requested by each state 

within their 3 digit zip code. We have also made employee training 

materials available and tested the process in a limited 2 market 

pilot program. When the coupons are mailed next week, we will 

have 9,000 retailer locations that will be participating in the program throughout all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

I would like to thank Wal-Mart, Best Buy, RadioShack, and Circuit City for their leadership and participation. These stores have 

completed the certification program. Their employees are trained. 

The converter boxes are in their stores and their systems are ready 

to redeem coupons. More retailers will be activated and more boxes 

will be available in the coming weeks. We will carefully monitor 

and assess the process as it rolls out and will take any further necessary actions to insure the consumer experience remains favorable 

with the coupon program. I received your letter, Chairman Markey, 

and others of the committee on the issue of the 90-day expiration 

of coupons, and I will be happy to work with you and your staff 

to address this issue. NTIA is aware of concerns that have been 

raised about the impact of the DTV transition of low power and 

translator stations and on residents of nursing homes, and we are 

taking steps to address these matters. 

I would like to than NTIA’s staff for their hard work in getting 

this program off to such a successful start. Thank you again for the 

opportunity to testify before you today. I have enjoyed working 

with your staffs and the DTV caucus, and I look forward to more 

39 

collaboration as we work together to make this transition successful. I will be happy to answer your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Baker follows:] 

STATEMENT OF MEREDITH A. BAKER

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity 

to appear before you today to discuss the progress made by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Department of Commerce, 

in assisting Americans to prepare for the digital television (DTV) transition. In particular, I am pleased to report to you on NTIA’s successful launch six weeks ago 

of the Television Converter Box Coupon Program (Coupon Program). Although the 

Program is off to a good start, this is only the beginning. In this statement, I will 

share with you the additional steps NTIA is taking to implement the Coupon Program and the agency’s ongoing efforts to expand public education and outreach on 

the DTV transition and the Coupon Program. 

As I indicated, NTIA successfully launched the Coupon Program on January 1, 

2008. Across the Nation, consumers have begun ordering their coupons through one 

of four convenient channels: via a toll-free number (1-888-DTV-2009), online at 

www.DTV2009.gov, by mail or by fax (1-888-DTV-4ME2). The phone line is available to consumers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with live agents available 

at all times and an Interactive Voice Response system available for English and 

Spanish-speaking callers. The phone line can accommodate requests in more than 

150 different languages. There is also a special assistance line for the hearing impaired in English and Spanish. Braille application forms are also available. To date, 

approximately 65 percent of the requests have been received through our Web site, 

34 percent through our telephone channel, and less than 1 percent of the requests 

by mail and fax. Approximately 89 percent of the household requests are for the 

maximum number of two coupons. 

On January 1, NTIA with its partner IBM took requests from over 249,000 applicants requesting 475,000 coupons. Consumers from every state in the nation applied 

on that first day. By the end of the first week, NTIA had received over one million 

requests for two million coupons. To date, NTIA has accepted more than 2.4 million 

household requests for more than 4.7 million coupons, representing 20 percent of 

the program’s base funding. Approximately 47 percent of these households identified 

themselves as fully reliant on over-the-air television. During this first six weeks, the 

Coupon Program obtained more than 83 million print and broadcast media impressions. NTIA’s daily efforts working with the media has helped generate awareness 

of the DTV transition and Coupon Program. This initial surge of interest in the Program and the correspondingly high application rate indicate that consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the DTV transition and are ready to take action. 

One of the keys to the success of this program is its voluntary nature, which has 

fostered strong public-private partnerships. As I have discussed this issue with 

other federal officials, non-profit leaders, and private sector partners, I have witnessed their willingness to work together to make the transition a success. The industries most directly affected by the transition have initiated significant educational efforts with real financial commitments to ensure that no household is 

caught unprepared on February 18, 2009. The DTV Coalition is also making great 

strides in educating the American public about their options for making the transition. 

As a complement to these efforts, NTIA has instituted a proactive consumer education campaign about the role of the Coupon Program in the DTV transition, 

leveraging opportunities to partner with consumer groups, community organizations, federal agencies, and industry to inform consumers of their options. To date, 

NTIA’s consumer education partners include over 130 social service and community 

organizations with ties to the senior citizens, rural,, minority, and disabled communities as well as a variety of federal agencies with direct communications with other 

constituent groups. NTIA is reaching out to trusted institutions, such as the 

NAACP, AARP, and the Native American Journalists Association to reach populations most likely to be affected by the transition. 

In addition, information about the Coupon Program is being made available in numerous foreign languages - - Spanish, French, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, and Tagalog. On December 1, 2007, Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez was featured in the first of a series of public service programs entitled, ′′TV Digital...Que Tal?′′ aired throughout the United States and Puerto Rico by the Spanishlanguage Univision Television Network. The program discussed the benefits of digital television broadcasting and provided detailed information about the need for 

40 

viewers that rely on over-the-air broadcasting to obtain digital-to-analog converter 

boxes to continue to use their analog television sets, and how to access the Coupon 

Program to obtain coupons for the purchase of boxes. 

In addition, NTIA hosted a meeting on January 24, 2008 with more than 15 other 

federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Homeland 

Security, the Administration on Aging, and the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, to further coordinate federal efforts to educate the nation about the February 17, 2009 deadline to transition to digital television. During the meeting, NTIA 

outlined its current and upcoming consumer education efforts and the agencies discussed their strategies and existing communications efforts to raise consumer 

awareness of the DTV transition and the Coupon Program. 

In collaboration with IBM and Ketchum, NTIA has developed a comprehensive 

toolkit of information to provide guidance to its partners that are playing a critical 

role in educating their members, constituents and customers about the Coupon Program. Available for use by partners since January 1, 2008 and continuing through 

early July 2009, the Toolkit attempts to offer simple tips and recommendations to 

help each organization reach its members with information about the Coupon Program in a way that will resonate best with them. The Toolkit includes a set of materials, including fact sheets, a poster, a mailer, sample presentations and other materials that can be co-branded for use by partners. The Toolkit also contains specific 

tools and strategies that can be used to reach the media to effectively deliver the 

Coupon Program message, and ideas and resources for informing consumers through 

community and in-store events or other activities. 

The Toolkit includes four sections, each of which can be used on its own, or in 

conjunction with other parts of the Toolkit: •Program Background. This section includes background information on the DTV 

transition and the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. Partners are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Coupon Program and with what consumers told us they want to know. • Development and Dissemination of Messages and Materials. This section includes a series of tailored messages about the Coupon Program that partners can 

incorporate into their own materials to explain how to apply for and redeem coupons. The messages have been tested in consumer focus groups to ensure that they 

are easily understood and have been reviewed by NTIA for accuracy and consistency. This section also outlines the ready-made materials available for downloading, 

co-branding and use by all partners. • Communicating Through the Media. This section provides guidance and ideas for 

generating ′′earned media′′ coverage through television, radio, print or online information sources. The information in this section ranges from ideas for conducting 

proactive media outreach, to placing public service announcements and tips on conducting a solid media interview. 

• Conducting Outreach Activities. The Toolkit includes creative ideas for communicating about the Coupon Program through existing organizational resources, as 

well as developing events and activities that focus specifically on the TV Converter 

Box Coupon Program. 

NTIA has been greatly encouraged by the robust participation of manufacturers 

and consumer electronic retailers in the Coupon Program. As part of this effort, 

NTIA has been working with manufacturers to ensure that converter boxes are 

timely available for viewers and contain the necessary functions and features. Voluntary industry efforts by consumer electronics manufacturers to educate consumers 

about the DTV transition and the Coupon Program are clearly having an impact as 

demonstrated by the number of requests for coupons NTIA has received to date. 

As of February 1, 2008, NTIA had certified over 34 converter boxes containing the 

required minimum features as well as permitted features, including three boxes 

which include the capability to pass through an analog broadcast signal. A complete 

list of converter boxes certified to date is available on NTIA’s website. These boxes 

demonstrate a range of consumer options and are priced between $40 and $70. We 

are continuing to review and certify boxes as manufacturers come into this Program. 

NTIA continues to work on one issue with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), consumer electronics manufacturers, and the broadcasting community 

to ensure that there are converter boxes that will serve the needs of viewers of Class 

A, low-power television, and television translator stations. As you know, these stations are not subject to the February 17, 2009 analog broadcasting cutoff deadline. 

Viewers of these stations who wish to continue receiving these analog broadcasts 

as well as the new digital signals after the February 17, 2009 deadline may want 

a converter box that includes an analog signal pass through feature. When the Coupon Program regulations were issued, NTIA asked manufacturers to take this into 

41 

consideration in the development of certified converter boxes. At the same time, 

NTIA asked manufacturers interested in including this feature to investigate options that would provide an acceptable analog signal pass through with minimal signal loss. On February 5, 2008, I sent a letter to each of the manufacturers involved 

in the certification process to once again encourage them to consider the needs of 

all viewers, including the viewers of Class A, low-power television, and television 

translator stations, in the development of converter boxes for the Coupon Program. 

NTIA is committed to an expedited review and recertification process for any box 

to which a manufacturer adds an analog signal pass through feature. 

I was very pleased by the recent announcement of the National Association of 

Broadcasters (NAB) that it will be taking steps to help resolve this issue. NAB has 

said that it will also request that manufacturers incorporate the pass-through feature. In addition, it will urge broadcasters to let their viewers know that low-power 

stations and translators will not necessarily discontinue broadcasting in analog at 

the deadline, will help to identify locations where large numbers of viewers might 

still be getting analog signals after the transition, and will produce television spots 

that directly address the issue and what viewers need to do to still receive the signals. 

In addition, NTIA began accepting grant applications in October 2007 from eligible Class A, low-power television, and television translator stations to enable them 

to continue analog broadcasts. This grant program will provide $1,000 to eligible 

stations that must purchase a digital-to-analog conversion device to convert the incoming digital signal of a full-power television station to analog for transmission on 

the station’s analog channel. Applications will be accepted until February 17, 2009. 

Of course, stations that operate at less than full power will also eventually convert to digital broadcasts, and by statute NTIA is directed to assist this effort 

through a program that provides $65 million for necessary equipment upgrades in 

eligible rural communities. To implement this program, a technical correction to the 

program authorization is required to permit the agency to begin making funds available during fiscal year 2009. S. 2607, recently introduced in the Senate, provides 

the correction necessary to enable NTIA to implement the program. NTIA will continue to work with the FCC, industry and the broadcast community to assist lowpower television stations and their viewers during the transition to digital broadcasting. 

NTIA will begin mailing coupons to consumers at the beginning of next week - 

- one year from the date of the transition. NTIA and IBM have been working closely 

with retailers in anticipation of this day. The agency has certified more than 615 

retailers, representing more than 16,475 outlets nationwide, to participate in the 

program. Eight of the largest consumer electronics retailers -- Best Buy, Circuit 

City, Kmart, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart - as well as 

many smaller retailers are among the 615 retailers certified by NTIA to participate 

in the Coupon Program. 

At the request of many of these retailers that have reported the need for assistance in ordering stock, NTIA has made information available about the number of 

coupons requested on a per State basis as well as with greater granularity (by first 

3-zip code digits). NTIA and IBM have made employee training materials available 

to all participating retailers so that they will be ready to answer consumers’ questions about certified boxes and the use of the coupon for payment. NTIA and IBM 

have tested the coupon application and redemption process in a limited pilot program in two markets to identify and correct any issues prior to full scale deployment 

of the coupons to consumers. When the Coupons are mailed next week, over 9,000 

retailer locations will be participating in the program, including locations in all 50 

states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Participating stores will have completed certification in the Coupon Program and will have indicated that their employees are trained, they have converter box inventory in their stores and their systems are prepared to redeem coupons. Participating retailers can be found on 

www.DTV2009.gov. 

Thank you again for this opportunity to testify before you today. I will be happy 

to answer your questions. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired, and we will now 

turn to members of the subcommittee for questions of the panel. 

And the chair will recognize himself for a round of questions. 

Chairman Martin, I want to talk to you about the fact that the geographic coverage area for broadcasters may not be exactly the same 

in digital as it is in analog. In other words, some customers may 

42 

find themselves newly outside the reception area of a channel they 

currently receive or they may need to adjust or to put up antennas 

to get the digital signal. What is your estimate of the number of 

households that may find themselves outside the reception area for 

channels they have historically received and what is your estimate 

of the number of households that will need new antennas as a result of this transition? 

Mr. MARTIN. Let me say first that our estimate is that all of the 

viewers within their predicted contour of the broadcast stations 

will continue to receive the broadcast signals after the transition 

just as they do today so there is going to be a change potentially 

for some consumers who are outside that predicted contour. Those 

are consumers today who are not within where we expect the 

broadcasters to be able to serve but maybe on the rural areas or 

in other communities who still pick up some of those other broadcast signals, and there could be some change on that. I asked our 

engineers that question in response to this interest survey that was 

released earlier this week which they had some questions about 

and think there are some flaws in. But they estimate that that will 

be 5 percent or less change, and this would only be on consumers 

who are outside where we say broadcasters must serve today. 

Mr. MARKEY. We are in situation where people may receive the 

signal in those areas and perhaps they are not expected to but they 

do today, and beginning next year they won’t any longer, so I think 

it is important for us to deal with how people actually do relate to 

these signals in the analog era. 

Mr. MARTIN. We don’t have any way to know for sure because 

those would be people that are receiving broadcast signals and they 

are not expected to be, and the broadcasters are not expected to be 

serving those. They are picking up signals beyond where the broadcasters—— 

Mr. MARKEY. It is just important for us to know how many of 

those people will need antennas so that there is an understanding 

of what will happen on that day in terms of the number of people 

who will be complaining that they have always received a signal 

during the analog era and they are now not even though under our 

historical guidelines perhaps they weren’t expected to receive it but 

they did receive it and now they won’t receive it any longer. 

Mr. MARTIN. And as I said the only estimate I have from our engineers is they think it will be less than 5 percent of the consumers 

who would be impacted because again everyone who is in the predicted contour will continue to be. 

Mr. MARKEY. So do you think antennas will be a big problem? 

In other words, in that area do you think that we might be talking 

about millions of people who will have to purchase antennas that 

today would not necessarily need to use an antenna in order to receive a signal? 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, let me try to explain the way the engineers 

explained to me the concerns. For example, with the Centra survey 

that was released this week that said that, they said that the 

Centra survey, the flaw in that study as it compared the analog 

broadcasting today to digital broadcasting tomorrow and it assumed analog consumers today have an antenna on their roof as 

our model assumes, and it has for years, and then compared that 

43 

to digital signals tomorrow and assumed that consumers did not 

have an antenna on the roof and only had rabbit ears, so you are 

comparing and contrasting different consumers with different antenna structures so what we would say is consumers should be all 

except for that 5 percent should be continued to be able to receive 

broadcasting tomorrow as they do today with no change in the antenna as they do today so there shouldn’t be any difference between a roof top or a new antenna. 

Mr. MARKEY. Congress is a stimulus response institution and 

there is nothing more stimulating than millions of people on February 17, 2009, calling to say they no longer can get Channel 4, 

and I have had it since 1949 in our households so we don’t have 

to worry about the successful part of it. We have to worry about 

the part that is going to cause disruption. One final question. Hundreds of low power stations and thousands of translators will remain in analog form and just 4 converter boxes reportedly possess 

the so-called analog pass through capability. How are the two of 

you coordination consumer education efforts in affected communities, and are you working with retailers to insure that appropriate boxes are stocked in stores in those communities, and if you 

could give me a brief answer that would be very helpful. 

Mr. MARTIN. We are certainly trying to work to coordinate to 

make sure that the message is communicated effectively to consumers about the concern. We are taking a variety of other steps 

including trying to encourage LPTV stations with a hard deadline 

to transition to digital, working with consumer—I sent letters to 

the Consumers Electronic Association and the Consumers Electronics Retailers Association asking them to make sure each manufacturer produces at least one box that has a pass through and that 

each retail outlet contain and sell at least one box with a pass 

through. And we have also proposed that we try to provide some 

additional assistance to the class A low power stations and provide 

them the opportunity to become full power stations and be at the 

front of the line, so to speak, after the digital transition, which I 

think will be essential to the low power community. 

And they have indicated to me that that would be a very important opportunity for them to ease their transition, and so I have 

taken a variety of steps and will continue. 

Mr. MARKEY. Ms. Baker, very quickly. 

Ms. BAKER. We are working with the FCC obviously on the education program with the CBA. On our coupon mail out we will 

identify the boxes. We will asterisk which boxes have low power 

pass through and send them to the web site with coordinated fact 

sheets. We also want to make sure that everyone knows that they 

don’t all need it so we want to clarify that and work with again 

the education effort, the joint industry education effort. 

Mr. MARKEY. OK, great. This is going to be a big issue. We have 

to make sure that this part of it works. The chair recognizes the 

gentleman from Florida, Mr. Stearns. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I welcome the opportunity to work with Chairman Martin. He has always been a 

good friend, and I look forward to working with him. Secretary 

Baker, in your opening statement and mine we both talked about 

the huge number of people that are requesting these coupons, and 

44 

flat out wouldn’t you say that this program is working, that industry and government and consumer education is working, would you 

say so? 

Ms. BAKER. I think the word is definitely getting out. 

Mr. STEARNS. Definitely. Would you say it is working? 

Ms. BAKER. Yes. 

Mr. STEARNS. OK. Some people are asking to require all converter boxes to include a low power pass through. Are you concerned that the manufacturers and retailers suddenly might drop 

out of the program altogether if we change the requirements at this 

late date? 

Ms. BAKER. Yes. I think it is a voluntary program and as I mentioned not all people need this pass through so I think it would stifle the retailer participation and the manufacturers if this were required. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you. And with that, Chairman Martin, it 

seems that you are talking about low power issue, and I guess a 

lot of us are wondering what all the facts are. I believe you have 

already started providing some data. It needs to be cross referenced 

staff tells me before we can take action. Can you obviously work 

with the committee, particularly our staff, to create a list of all low 

power stations and their location breaking out those that are class 

A or translators, those that will be digital by February 17, 2009, 

whether they are an affiliate of one of the top 4 networks, whether 

all the stations in their market are analog, low power, and how 

many people are actually watching them. I say this as an overlay 

because as I talked to Secretary Baker there is a perception that 

this low power—to include a low power pass through it is going to 

create some kind of detriment so towards the end if we had all 

those facts and we could cross reference them that would be helpful. So if you would be so kind as to address some of the items that 

I have requested that you provide our staff. 

Mr. MARTIN. Of course we will work with your staff to provide 

any of the information that you end up needing and that we have 

and have available. I think we have already tried to provide some 

of those numbers. I can give you a brief overview if you would like. 

And the only problem, the only issue that I see with any of the requests you have made is Nielsen doesn’t actually keep track of the 

number of people that are watching the low power television stations. They focus on the full power television stations. So we may 

not be able to get you—we will provide you whatever we can obtain. 

Mr. STEARNS. Can you provide us a list of all the low power stations and their locations? 

Mr. MARTIN. Absolutely. 

Mr. STEARNS. That is no problem. 

Mr. MARTIN. Yes. 

Mr. STEARNS. Breaking out those that are class A or translators, 

can you provide that? 

Mr. MARTIN. Yes. That is no problem. 

Mr. STEARNS. Those that will be digital by February 17, 2009? 

Mr. MARTIN. All the information we have about anybody who will 

be digital, absolutely. 

45 

Mr. STEARNS. Whether they are an affiliate of one of the top 4 

networks, can you provide that? 

Mr. MARTIN. Yes. 

Mr. STEARNS. And whether all the stations in the market are 

analog, low power. 

Mr. MARTIN. Yes. 

Mr. STEARNS. And how many people is the one you say you can’t 

provide? 

Mr. MARTIN. We will provide whatever we can gather but I am 

not sure we will be able to provide that. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Stupak. 

Mr. STUPAK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Martin, in 

2004 as I said in my opening News Corp acquired DirecTV and 

pledged to provide local carriage in all 210 DMAs, yet here we are 

in February, 2008, and DirecTV only covers 142 DMAs and 

EchoStar 170 DMAs. You testified at this committee that it would 

be a win for consumers’ perspective and policy perspective. Later 

this month you are urging the commission to approve Liberty Media’s request to acquire News Corp stake in DirecTV without a 

similar pledge of working to provide universal local to local. Why 

not? 

Mr. MARTIN. First, let me say I do continue to think it would end 

up being a win from a consumer perspective, and I support trying 

to make sure that we move forward. I think you asked it in your 

opening statement to have the commission work with Congress to 

have a deadline that we would insure that all local to local actually 

occurs. I went back after the last hearing and looked at the commitment that was made in 2004 and it was a commitment that was 

made not to deliver all those local to local using satellite but to use 

a hybrid system in which they delivered local to local, and some 

communities via satellite and some using an over the air signal 

that would be obtained and then integrated in. 

Mr. STUPAK. And that hasn’t worked either? 

Mr. MARTIN. No, but we have required—they committed to do 

that by 2008 and 2004, and we are requiring them again in this 

order that I circulated to the commissioners that they do have to 

integrate all of those in all 210 by the end of this year. 

Mr. STUPAK. How many have they integrated thus far if you have 

10 months left this year? Very few, if any. 

Mr. MARTIN. Very few. Absolutely. 

Mr. STUPAK. So they are not realistically going to get done by the 

end of 2008, are they? If this merger goes through they are no 

longer required to do it, right? 

Mr. MARTIN. No, no, no. We are making if the merger goes 

through they are still required to. We are not eliminating that obligation of being required to. 

Mr. STUPAK. So realistically are they going to get it done even 

if the merger goes through? 

Mr. MARTIN. They are saying that they will be able to roll that 

out to offer that to consumers in all 210 markets this year using 

this integrated solution, not using the satellite into satellite solution, which is an imperfect solution but that is—— 

46 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman from Michigan, just so that he 

knows, there are 3 minutes left to vote on the floor. We could suspend here and come back and then I will recognize the gentleman. 

Mr. STUPAK. Why don’t we do that, why don’t we suspend, and 

get back my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. There is only one roll call, a Republican motion to 

adjourn the Congress for the day, which we are going to go over 

and oppose. I think we will be successful and that will allow for 

the continuation of the hearing. We will take a brief recess. Thank 

you. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. MARKEY. The committee will reassemble and we will once 

again recognize the gentleman from Michigan with an extra 30 seconds on the clock because of the disruptive time at which we suspended the hearing, and the gentleman is recognized once again for 

that purpose. 

Mr. STUPAK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your 

courtesy. Mr. Martin, we were talking about local to local, and I 

still want to ask you about that. Why don’t we just, FCC just put 

a hard date much like we do with DirecTV. Why don’t we just say 

by February 17, 2009, this will be done, the last remaining 40 

areas will be covered because this hybrid system that you are 

speaking of still would not work in areas like Marquette, Michigan, 

Alpena, Michigan because of topography. 

Mr. MARTIN. And I was able to confirm during the break the hybrid system that they are offering to do is what they had committed to do in 2004 they are saying they will have done by October of this year. 

Mr. STUPAK. And I am telling you the hybrid system won’t work 

because of the topography of some areas especially in Minnesota, 

northern Michigan, so that still doesn’t solve our problem. Why not 

just put a hard date and say, OK, by February 17, 2009, we got 

to go to DirecTV. Let us make sure we have all local to local and 

all the DMAs. 

Mr. MARTIN. The reason why is because actually Congress made 

the decision to require instead of requiring all the satellite operators—— 

Mr. STUPAK. Congress did not say it had to be done. We encouraged it to be done. We had hoped the FCC would follow through 

so I am urging the FCC to do it. So if we introduce legislation saying local to local must be completed by February 19, 2009, would 

you be supportive of that? 

Mr. MARTIN. I would. I mean I have been very supportive of carriage in every context, and so I would and I would continue to say 

that I think that is a good thing and would be supportive of it, yes. 

I would be happy to work with you on it. 

Mr. STUPAK. OK. So why don’t you just do it as part of this merger here, require it to be done? If you are looking at this merger 

later today. 

Mr. MARTIN. I believe the fact that Congress was very specific in 

saying that the satellite operators didn’t have to do it they were 

going to do it market by market. If they did it for one station in 

the market they would do it everywhere, but they did not require 

it to be done nationally and so I think that them coming forward 

47 

saying that they would assume it through other technology is probably the extent to which that I think is reflective of what I understood Congress’ intention on that. I certainly support is as a policy 

matter and would support legislation if it was introduced. 

Mr. STUPAK. So why don’t you have the commission do it as part 

of the merger. If DirecTV covers 142 now they would have about 

60, 80, almost 70 more to go so why not just make it part of that 

agreement you are looking at later this month? 

Mr. MARTIN. I think what is important is if we required that that 

way it would take away the capacity to provide the carriage for 

other signals because of the one limited nature of their capacity. 

Mr. STUPAK. Well, that is the argument but has the FCC ever 

inquired, done a feasibility study or looked at the cost due to local 

to local? What is the cost? We hear that excuse all the time but 

yet we see new channels coming on all the time. 

Mr. MARTIN. No, what I was saying is I agree. I think it is probably a higher priority to carry the broadcast signals. I support that. 

I was meaning that I deferred to Congress’ decision if they weren’t 

going to require that of the satellite operators unlike the cable operators, and so it was out of that deference that I was concerned 

about whether we should do that, but I support it and would support the legislation if that was introduced. And I think I would 

support working with you on anything else we can come up with 

to try to solve the problem. 

Mr. STUPAK. It will be introduced, hopefully soon. We are looking 

at it right now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Martin. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Upton. 

Mr. UPTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome, both of you. 

Chairman Martin, one year to go before the transition my understanding is that the broadcasters are still waiting on the FCC’s 

seventh reconsideration order and some other items so that they 

can finish constructing their digital facilities. It seems to me that 

in terms of media issues the FCC should be focusing its attention 

on that rather than other TV related items. Would you be able to 

send us a list of all the pending and planned media related 

rulemakings that you anticipate that the commission might address between now and February 17 of next year? 

Mr. MARTIN. I would be happy to, and I believe the seventh DTV 

order we did at the end of the year and the only thing that I know 

from a technical standpoint there is individual petitions for recon 

that were filed that said I don’t want the channel you gave me, I 

want a different one, and that is actually on circulation already at 

the commission. But I will be happy to give you a list of the remaining technical items that would need to be done but I believe 

all of them are already on circulation and we anticipate being able 

to move through all of them. Several of them are on the agenda for 

this month and all of them are in circulation before the commission 

now. 

Mr. UPTON. Great. Thank you. Secretary Baker, will you be able 

to track and share the coupon requests and redemption date rate 

data to help the manufacturers and retailers allocate their resources in proportion to levels of demand across the country? 

48 

Ms. BAKER. Absolutely. IBM has designed a system that will 

electronically track as we have already shared with the retailers 

the applications down to the zip code where they have been asked 

for. We will also give that information both to the Congress as well 

as to the retailers as to where these coupons are redeemed. 

Mr. UPTON. Great. And I know that you recently received a letter 

from Chairman Dingell and others asking to let you get people that 

get back in line after their coupons expire. The letter asked you to 

do so. However, only if it won’t cause us to run out of coupons. But 

my sense is that we are going to have to wait a couple of months 

to see if the redemption and the expiration rates occur before. We 

will know whether there in fact is going to be a risk so I am not 

necessarily against that at all but I think that we are going to need 

to see some data before we get there. 

Ms. BAKER. I agree with you. I think as we move from the theoretical design of this program to when it is more real and we have 

real people and real constituents we start to get a little bit more 

sympathetic, and I think this is one of those things that we can be 

very sympathetic on. I do think that we need to wait and see the 

redemption rates but I have gone ahead and asked IBM to price 

out what the cost of this would be, what would the cost of the application, fielding another application, making another card, mailing it out to another constituent so we have the data as to how 

much it cost and so we can compare that with the redemption rates 

and see if there is money to do such a thing. 

Mr. UPTON. Thank you. I yield back. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. We have another—Mr. Shimkus earlier made reference to the movie Groundhog Day, and there is now another motion to adjourn on the House 

floor. If it goes on all day there will be a more contemporary movie, 

There Will Be Blood will be what happens by the end of the day. 

But at this point we are all still in good humor and I think we have 

enough time actually for 5 minutes to recognize one member, and 

that would be the gentlelady from California, Ms. Eshoo. 

Ms. ESHOO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What I want to do is just 

put my questions out there and then give you time to respond to 

them. My first question is directed to Ms. Baker. Thank you for 

being here. Congratulations on your position. On August 3 of last 

year the President signed the 9/11 Commission Implementation Act 

into law, and contained in that was a grant program for the 

PSAPS. I along with Mr. Shimkus co-chaired the E-911 caucus in 

the House and so we are very interested in the capabilities relative 

to E-911. So I would like to know what the status of the funding 

is for those grants and how the dollars are going to be distributed. 

To Chairman Martin, I would like to know if you have decided if 

you are going to auction the advanced wireless services spectrum, 

and if so when you plan to do so. That is fallow as you well know, 

and I think that this auction, the auction of this spectrum, should 

be as soon as possible but I would like to know where you are on 

that. 

I would also like to query on the whole issue of cable. When one 

looks at the decisions that you have taken, it kind of—it says to 

me that there is a deep chasm between you and cable, the manipulation of the data in the 7070 proceeding, and I use the word maVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:13 Apr 06, 2010 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-88 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
49 

nipulation because I think the data was manipulated. I don’t think 

in that re-regulation that the consumers win. The franchising regime should allow it to work, and I don’t think that that is consumer friendly. The multicast must carry, I think that that raises 

rates. I don’t know where you are coming from on that. The slashing of the rates cable can charge for leased access. Now I understand that people can fall on either side of that issue but I think 

that that is on the list as well. 

The eradication of existing contracts with the multi-dwelling 

units, the continued pressure to implement ala carte which I think 

raises rates, and there is a lot that seems to drive you on that. I 

don’t see broad support for that but you seem to stay on it, and 

then the 30 percent cap. I am not happy with the—that is one of 

them but I don’t know whether I disagree with you on that or not. 

But that is a long list and I think that the commission really needs 

to be working better with cable. I think that the consumers are 

hurt in some of these decisions but I don’t want the decisions to 

just stand on their own. I mean it is a long list and I think it is 

troubling to me and I think that it is to others. So those are my 

questions, and maybe we can start with Ms. Baker on the PSAPS 

and the funding and the grants. 

Ms. BAKER. Right. Well, we are glad that the E-911 program has 

finally been funded. We have had a joint program office with 

NITSA now for I think over a year, and we have just received a 

draft joint work program. I am happy to share it with you and your 

staff. 

Ms. ESHOO. What does that mean, how you are going to distribute the funding? 

Ms. BAKER. Yes. And so we are working with them, and I am 

happy to share the draft with you. 

Ms. ESHOO. Do you have a date by which the funding will be out? 

Ms. BAKER. I think that that is still in development. 

Ms. ESHOO. OK. Chairman Martin. 

Mr. MARTIN. Sure. I am happy to end up answering your concerns about the—my concerns with cable, and I would say that first 

just very briefly in direct response to some of the concerns, 

multicast must carry doesn’t raise rates. It is the carriage of free 

programming so it can’t raise rates. Leased access, decreasing rates 

for leased access can’t again raise rates. We were decreasing rates 

for leased access. On the apartment building issue and the franchise reform, I continue to believe everyone deserves to have the 

benefit of competition, not just people that don’t live in apartments. 

An overwhelming number of minorities in this country do—more 

minorities live in apartment buildings than others and I think they 

deserve to have the benefits of competition. 

Ms. ESHOO. Do you think minorities are hurt by your overall 

media consolidation? I mean it seems you support minorities on 

one thing and then on one of the largest things that the commission could ever take up minorities are, well, I don’t want to use the 

term, but they are hurt by it. 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, I was glad that maybe you agreed with the 

30 percent cap but overall when you talk about the list, I think this 

is the reason why, the list, and if I can have this entered into the 

record, Mr. Chairman, I would appreciate it. What we have seen 

50 

is a dramatic increase in cable rates compared to every other sector 

the commission regulates. Cable rates have dramatically increased. 

In 1996 when the Telecommunications Act was passed cable rates 

were $22 a month for expanded basic. Today they are over $50 a 

month. The reason why I am concerned about cable is because I believe consumers are concerned about cable. Eighty percent of consumers say they think they are paying too much, and I believe we 

need to do something about the ever expanding cable rates. 

Mr. MARKEY. There is only 3 minutes left on the roll call on the 

floor. 

Ms. ESHOO. Can he answer on the auction? 

Mr. MARTIN. We have been very busy with the 700 megahertz 

auction. As soon as we finish that, I plan to move forward on 

the—— 

Ms. ESHOO. When do you anticipate that to be? 

Mr. MARTIN. The 700 megahertz auction could close when people 

stop bidding on it and so I am waiting for that to conclude, and 

I can’t give you an exact time frame but that will be the next priority for the commission as soon as we finish the 700 megahertz 

auction. 

Ms. ESHOO. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. Again, the committee will stand in recess, and we 

will reconvene in another 6 to 10 minutes. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. MARKEY. The committee will please reassemble, and once 

people are settled down a little bit the chair will recognize the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Shimkus. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I finally got lucky on 

a hearing for a change so let me go with Secretary Baker. According to Nielsen only 11.7 percent of the households representing 13 

million homes rely exclusively on the over the air television as of 

January, 2008. What percent of coupon requests have come from 

such homes? 

Ms. BAKER. Right now we are at 47 percent have been over the 

air only. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. When we have had other of these hearings what 

I have always focused on is the amount of consumers out there, 

and I focused on how many have cable, how many have satellite 

TV, try to address the cost, do we have enough money budgeted 

and the issue, so that is kind of where my line of questionings have 

continued to focus on. And this is for both Chairman Martin and 

you, Secretary Baker. I know there has been an overwhelming interest in the converter box coupon since the public was able to start 

requesting them. Over 3.4 million converter box coupons will be 

mailed out starting next week. If the public has requested such an 

overwhelming number of coupons over a year before the transition 

date doesn’t that demonstrate that the consumer education plan is 

working, and a follow-up question, how should consumer education 

change as we get closer to February 17, 2009? We will go first with 

Chairman Martin. 

Mr. MARTIN. I certainly think that is evidence that the education 

campaign is beginning to work, and I think the most important 

thing that we need to recognize as some of the recent surveys have 

been done about consumers by Consumers Union that as more and 

51 

more people become aware of the transition our education focus 

needs to change to not only just saying the transition is coming but 

what they need to do to prepare for it, and more and more the 

focus on what actions they need to take as opposed to just the transition is coming. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Secretary Baker. 

Ms. BAKER. I do. I think the fact that we had such a large demand the first week means that the consumer education campaign 

is working. The spike really is it goes up the first week and then 

it kind of levels off. I think we are at an average of 61,000 coupons 

now a day being asked for. I think that we will have spikes. We 

will probably have a spike at the year out as we have all this great 

interest in a year out and the events of the year out. I think we 

will have different spikes throughout the summer. I think we are 

looking for spikes so that we can get the consumer education campaign out there particularly to the elderly, the disabled, the rural, 

the low income, and the minorities. 

I also think what will be more telling is not the demand for the 

coupons but how they are redeemed and I think we will start seeing those. Obviously since we are mailing the coupons out starting 

next week, we will start seeing redemption rates shortly and we 

will see what the redemption rate is on the coupons and that will 

be more telling. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Great. And since I have you here, Chairman Martin, let me just focus briefly on the WARN Act and the FCC has 

pending before it a rulemaking to implement the voluntary alert 

warning system on commercial mobile networks. This is part of 

your execution of the act which also detailed a process based on industry recommendations for its implementation. You have raised 

questions about the industry’s detailed recommendations especially 

with respect to the alerting geographic granularity. That is tough. 

I usually don’t try to go into multi-syllable words. Granularity is 

one of the toughest ones I have had to use today but since the involved parties worked to provide a consensus and set of recommendations that can be implemented broadly across commercial 

networks, can you speak to what concerns you may have? As you 

know, Congress worked its will and permitted carrier participation 

to be voluntary and for the FCC rules to be consensus driven. 

We obviously want carriers to participate or consumers won’t 

have access to the alerts. Do you worry that your process underway 

may prove a disincentive for carriers to participate and thus reduce 

the availability of alerts to consumers as outlined in the recommendations presented by the WARN Act advisory committee? 

Mr. MARTIN. No. I think the process has actually been very conducive. Out of all the recommendations made by the joint committee that contained both consumer interest, public safety interest, and the wireless industry’s interest there was only one concern 

that I raised on the recommendation and it was on the geographic 

area. I didn’t think that we should require anything smaller in 

terms of geographic area but I was contacted by several public safety agencies and by the mayor of New York about concerns that if 

we require—the geographic area that was being discussed would 

not be conducive to extremely dense urban areas like New York 

City, and trying to find a way that we would make sure that the 

52 

residents of New York were also able to get the benefits of the 

WARN Act and try to either get some of the industry players to 

participate in something on a smaller geographic area or to try to 

make sure that we allowed individual public safety entities and/or 

local communities to come forward and say we need it on a smaller 

area because it is so densely populated in our urban areas I think 

was important. 

I am still trying to work with the industry on trying to figure out 

a way to voluntarily try to address this issue, and obviously I am 

going to be very sensitive to what concerns the Congress members 

may have about this one focus. I think that some Congress members had raised a concern with me about this but some of their offices have but I think more of them are comfortable with it now, 

and so we will continue going forward and work on this, but I think 

it is a voluntary program. I think we need to be very sensitive to 

all the issues that are raised by the whole organization. And as I 

said except for this one issue that was really raised predominantly 

by New York City, I think everything else has all been worked out. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And just for me to 

close, this is kind of tied in to digital transition because the whole 

debate of date certain and getting the spectrum freed up for the 

first line responders is something that a lot of us have worked very 

diligently to—the last thing we want, Mr. Chairman, is another 

major catastrophe where we have people not able to communicate 

with each other. The public broadcasters are on the Hill today, and 

the ones I talked to have been very strongly in support of the date 

certain based upon their plans and procedures and what they are 

trying to do. And I hope we can continue to move in that direction 

for what has been my focus, and I know my colleague, Congresswoman Eshoo’s, is the first line responders and the public safety 

communities. So with that, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, 

and I yield back the balance of my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. To the gentleman from Texas, we were going to recognize Mr. Boucher before 

the last roll call but he decided to pass so that we could go so if 

you don’t mind we will recognize Mr. Boucher out of order and then 

we will come back to you. The gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Boucher, is recognized for 8 minutes. 

Mr. BOUCHER. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and 

Mr. Martin and Ms. Baker, welcome to the committee. We appreciate your advice this morning. In November of last year I had the 

opportunity to visit White Haven in the United Kingdom. That is 

the community where the digital television transition was first 

completed in the UK. And I was very interested to learn about that 

experience. It was a good experience for them. They had no surprises. On the day of the transition everyone was aware of it. They 

had taken the steps to prepare themselves. That of course is the 

goal we hope to achieve in the U.S. 

They did, however, encounter some issues that I don’t think we 

have given much consideration to with regard to our transition, 

and I would welcome your thoughts about these issues. There were 

two in particular. They discovered that 10 percent of the external 

antennas had to be replaced in order to accommodate the digital 

signal. These were outdoor antennas that were adequate to get an 

53 

analog signal, probably a snowy one, not a very good one, but at 

least these outdoor antennas could get analog signals. They were 

not sufficient, however, to get a digital signal at all, and so 10 percent of the antennas had to be replaced. 

Now in putting together a program for converter boxes and the 

subsidy program for that, we really thought that would be the only 

hardware need. We were not aware that possibly outdoor antennas 

would also have to be replaced. And I don’t know how many that 

will be but there are about 70 million analog sets in the U.S. that 

are over the air dependent. If you took 10 percent of that figure, 

we would be talking about 7 million homes. It probably won’t be 

that many but that is the outer edge of the potential problem. So 

my first question to you, and I have a second one and I will just 

have you answer both at once, my first question to you is what 

thought have we given to this, and how are we going to address 

that concern when it arises here in the U.S.? Is this just going to 

have to be a cost that the TV viewer has to bear or alternately 

should we consider legislation in order to provide the funding necessary to accommodate this just as we have accommodated the 

need for converter boxes. 

The second challenge was this. They found that a very large percentage of the people had to have technical assistance. They got 

their converter boxes but they didn’t know to install them. They 

had a need to replace outdoor antennas in some places but didn’t 

know how to replace them or even really what the problem was. 

They might have had their converter box properly installed but still 

couldn’t get a signal. Their problem was that their outdoor antenna 

wasn’t adequate but they really had no way to know what that 

problem was. So in the UK their help program actually financed 

a broad range of technical assistance, and people employed through 

this program were made available to help with the converter box 

installation at the home and to assess other technical difficulties, 

including possibly the need to replace an outdoor antenna. 

Now we do not have as I understand our program a technical assistance component. I guess we are thinking that the retail store 

that sells a converter box for $50 or $60 is going to provide that 

advice. Somehow I don’t have confidence that is really going to 

work. I don’t think that store, Wal-Mart perhaps, is going to have 

an ongoing interest in perhaps sending somebody to the person’s 

home in order to solve these problems. And so I am wondering if 

we don’t need to rethink our program in light of also providing 

some financing for technical assistance. So I have a couple other 

questions but those are the two main ones, and I just welcome your 

advice about to what extent we thought about this and how we 

might meet these needs. Mr. Martin. 

Mr. MARTIN. In response to the first question you have got about 

the replacement of outdoor antennas, I think that our engineers 

would say because of what they call the cliff effect of digital broadcasting in which the people that are able to get it receive a better 

picture but those that are on the edges there will be a point at 

which you used to be able to get not a very good picture or a snowy 

picture outside of the contours of where the broadcaster is supposed to be operating but that you would no longer be able to, our 

engineers estimate it is probably closer to around 5 percent of those 

54 

outdoor antennas would end up needing to potentially be replaced 

in those situations. 

Mr. BOUCHER. So your estimate is about 5 percent of our outdoor 

antennas? 

Mr. MARTIN. This is what our engineers were saying, and that 

was what I referenced earlier in response to a question from Chairman Markey. And whether Congress decides to provide any additional support for that or not, I obviously would leave up to Congress to decide about the use of its resources, but we do estimate 

that it will be small but about 5 percent of those people using outdoor antennas would be what we would estimate, not as high as 

10. In response to the second question about the technical assistance, I would say obviously there is already some response in the 

marketplace to these kinds of issues. Best Buy, for example, has 

their D squad that comes out, and we were at Best Buy last week 

for an event and they offered technical assistance in setting up any 

of the products that you can purchase there. 

But we have also in response to some of the concerns that have 

been raised by this technical assistance have contacted some 

groups and some organizations that target particular groups that 

I think might need that technical assistance like the elderly or the 

disabled. We have been in contact with Meals on Wheels and have 

asked them, for example, to help distribute information about the 

upcoming transition. One of the concerns they raised, initially they 

said yes, and then they raised a concern that they then thought 

they would be asked to participate and do provide that technical 

assistance if they start telling people about the transition. So we 

have actually gone back to them and said, well, that will be positive, not negative. 

And they said that they would need resources, and we said how 

much would you need to be able to participate. We have gotten 

some estimates on that. I probably should share that privately with 

folks, but they said that potentially they would be willing to help 

participate, and that would be targeting the kind of audiences that 

I think—targeting some of the consumers that might be most in 

need of assistance, and that would be one of the things that assuming Congress provides us additional resources that we have asked 

for this year in our budget that I have asked my staff to take into 

account to try to provide for the ability to try to target some of 

these consumers who we know will be needing some assistance. 

Mr. BOUCHER. Are you asking for the resources that your evaluations suggest would be necessary in order to provide that technical 

assistance? 

Mr. MARTIN. The only organization that I have been able to identify that could provide that directly would be the kind of, as I said, 

Meals on Wheels, which is we talked—— 

Mr. BOUCHER. Well, but they said they would need some funding 

to do it. Are you going to be asking us to provide the funding? 

Mr. MARTIN. I have discussed—we have asked for additional ap- propriations this year of $20 million, and I have talked to my staff 

about making sure we include the estimates for that program in 

our estimates of what we would do with that $20 million. 

Mr. BOUCHER. Well, the $20 million leads me to the second question, and, Ms. Baker, I don’t mean to exclude you. My time is runVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:13 Apr 06, 2010 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-88 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
55 

ning out, however. And that is that in the United Kingdom about 

$1.2 billion in total was made available for their assistance program and their public education. They have got 1/5 of the population of the United States. Until now we have allocated $5 million 

for our public education campaign. Just splitting their total appropriation in half, let us say that $500 million went to public education there. You know, we are at 1 percent of that here. $20 million doesn’t really fill the gap very well. I remain deeply concerned 

that we still have not allocated enough for that, and now you are 

suggesting part of that $20 million might even get diverted into a 

help scheme of some sort for technical assistance perhaps. 

So, Mr. Chairman, my time is up. Let me just leave the thought 

that I think we need to do something on this subject. We are clearly going to need resources beyond the $20 million that has been requested, and I hope that we can respond to that and do so, so we 

can prevent serious problems from occurring. Thank you. I yield 

back. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, the ranking member of the full 

committee, Mr. Barton. 

Mr. BARTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was a little bit late because I had to go use the hotline to call for my coupons. I wanted 

to make sure that there wasn’t a shortage, you know, since they 

are going to start mailing them out next week, so I had to do that 

little errand. It is good to have our commissioner here. It is good 

to have Ms. Baker here. I know her and several members of her 

family very well. We got Commissioner Adelstein here. We are glad 

to have him here, and former Congressman Klink. The front row 

is just kind of an all star group of people. It is our, I guess, biweekly DTV transition update hearing so things are moving along 

pretty well. 

I am always tempted when we have our chairman of the FCC to 

ask a totally extraneous issue but I won’t do that today. On the 

good side, it looks to me like the coupon program is moving along 

pretty well. Over 4 million have been requested. You are going to 

start mailing them out next week. Not you, but the agency that is 

responsible for it. Do you see any problems in the coupon program 

as it currently exists, and I am asking that to Chairman Martin. 

And if Ms. Baker wants to answer, she can too. 

Mr. MARTIN. No. I think the coupon program seems to be on 

track. There seems to be a high demand for it, and I think that 

we are moving forward in a positive way on that. I think as I said 

before it seems like there are a lot of consumers who are aware of 

the transition. We need to target our message to make sure we are 

telling them what they need to do but it seems like we are on 

track. 

Mr. BARTON. OK. Ms. Baker. 

Ms. BAKER. I would say that I am very happy with the retailers 

that are participating as we roll this out. We are going to be tracking very carefully as the coupons go out what the redemption is. 

There will be more retailers who are actually participating. We 

have certified a bunch more than those that are participating. Participating means they have boxes on the shelves. There will be 

more and more in the coming weeks. There will be more boxes with 

56 

more features in the coming weeks, so I think things look good. We 

will be monitoring it closely and sharing all that information with 

your staff. 

Mr. BARTON. OK. Very good. Mr. Chairman, on the D block auction part of the reason we are doing the DTV transition is to clear 

up the spectrum so it can be used for other purposes, and one of 

the real supposed stars in the auction was supposed to be the D 

block, and so far the reserve price has not been met. There are 

many people, and I am one of those people, that thinks the commission has put so many encumbrances on it that the private sector 

is not really comfortable proposing a bid. If you don’t make the reserve price, and it doesn’t appear that you are going to, what is the 

commission’s plan B on that D block spectrum? 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, I think that the most important thing to put 

in context for all the encumbrances on the D block were that they 

were all done at the urging and the request of public safety to try 

to resolve the problems they have on interoperability, trying to find 

a way that the local police and local fire department are going to 

be able to communicate using the next generation of wireless services. And I think that we need to continue to end up having their 

concerns at the forefront of these issues going forward, but obviously the encumbrances and the expectations that they work with 

public safety if no one ends up bidding on that piece of spectrum 

were too great the commission will have to continue to go back and 

re-evaluate what we should put in place to try to resolve these public safety concerns. 

I am pleased that the rest of the auction all went forward and 

we were able to meet the reserve price and all the other pieces. I 

think there were concerns that were raised about some of those encumbrances in terms of build out or openness on the C block. All 

of those have been met, and we have been able to successfully raise 

despite the fact that the D block has not met the reserve price, successfully raise significantly more revenue than anyone had anticipated, almost twice, and more revenue than we have ever raised 

in the auction in the past for even less spectrum than we have auctioned off in the past. So I think in general it has been very successful, but I do recognize the concerns that public safety raised 

seem like they are too great for at this point anyone being willing 

to put in place a bid that would be able to work with public safety. 

I would hope that someone would come forward and be willing 

to work with public safety but if no one is then we are going to 

have to go back to the drawing board and consider how to—— 

Mr. BARTON. Well, I am going to encourage Chairman Markey 

and Chairman Dingell to squeeze in a hearing outside of the DTV 

transition on that issue because that spectrum, A, is valuable, and, 

B, is very important for public safety and first responders, and we 

need to figure out a way to get it sold in a way that meets the goals 

of the legislation that we all supported. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back, and thank you for your courtesy. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman, and I would say to the gentleman that when this auction is completed assuming that the D 

block does not have any bidders our intention is to have a hearing 

and then to do a top to bottom evaluation of what we should do 

57 

going forward. The chair recognizes the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Dingell. 

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for that courtesy. I ask 

unanimous consent that I be permitted to insert into the record a 

letter which we will be sending to the Chairman of the Commission 

and the Secretary and their responses. 

Mr. MARKEY. Without objection. 

Mr. DINGELL. Madam Secretary and Chairman Martin, are you 

concerned that there will be sufficient funds to meet the demand 

for converter box coupons, yes or no? 

Mr. MARTIN. When I testified last October I said that I was obviously concerned and if Congress provided more I am sure the program would make sure that that had been implemented but that 

I would defer to NTIA on their expectations with what is going on 

with the program. 

Mr. DINGELL. Does that mean you are concerned or not concerned? 

Mr. MARTIN. I am always concerned to make sure that enough 

people have the opportunity to take advantage of the program. 

Mr. DINGELL. Madam Secretary. 

Ms. BAKER. Would you like to hear my calculations? Using the 

first phase of the money which is $890 million for coupons, we have 

152 days at the average base. Now that includes the first spike, 

and that is 5 months and that would be July 13. We have 286 days 

at the last 3 weeks pace, which is an average of 61,000 coupons a 

day, and that puts us—that 260 days puts us at November 24. We 

have 571 days at the lowest pace. So we are tracking it very closely. I would expect that you would receive a request for additional 

funds, not that I think that we are necessarily going to get to it 

but because I think that there should be no disruption between 

phase 1 and phase 2 of this program. 

Mr. DINGELL. Would you each, please, for the record submit calculations indicating whether the committee should be concerned, 

including whatever calculations you have already made and such 

further calculations as you deem appropriate to inform the committee? Now, Madam Secretary and Mr. Chairman, will you commit to giving the Congress all the notice you can when and as soon 

as you come to believe that the converter box program will run out 

of funds? 

Mr. MARTIN. Yes. 

Ms. BAKER. Yes, absolutely. 

Mr. DINGELL. Now these questions are to Chairman Martin. I am 

very much troubled by the discussions now going on with regard 

to allowing some low power stations to upgrage to full power status. My first question, has the Commission conducted any sort of 

background analysis to ensure that a transition would not cause 

harmful interference to full power broadcasters? 

Mr. MARTIN. The proposal that I have put forth would say that 

they have to meet the same interference standards that are required now of anyone else who wants a full power station. There 

could be no interference caused—— 

Mr. DINGELL. I understand that, but can you give us the assurance that there will be no interference? 

58 

Mr. MARTIN. We can give you an assurance because we would 

not grant any that created an interference, so, yes, we can give you 

that assurance. 

Mr. DINGELL. Now will this create problems with regard to 

theavailability of channels and space on both satellite and on 

cable? 

Mr. MARTIN. I would say that I am not sure what it would end 

up having on the implications for cable and/or satellite. I can say 

that I think that some of those cable and satellite companies carry 

low power, more cable does than satellite, satellite doesn’t even 

carry all the full power stations. So I think it would be more of a 

problem on satellite than on cable. 

Mr. DINGELL. All right. But these are matters of concern to the 

committee, and I would appreciate in the communication which I 

will send you if you would respond as fully as you can to the concerns that I have and I think the committee has with regard to the 

potential for mischief here if this becomes a problem, which I think 

it is very liable to do. Now, Chairman Martin, you have requested 

$20 million for consumer education in the 2009 budget. Did you request more money for that or is that the number that was your request to the Office of Management and Budget? 

Mr. MARTIN. That was the number that was requested at the Office of Management and Budget. 

Mr. DINGELL. So you got every cent that you asked for, is that 

right? 

Mr. MARTIN. In this budget request, yes, and that was a number 

that actually I consulted with all my colleagues and it was one the 

commission unanimously asked of O&B. 

Mr. DINGELL. Now do you have plans on how you will spend that 

money? 

Mr. MARTIN. We do have some tentative plans on how we would 

end up spending the money in terms of additional PSAs that would 

be broadcast and created, additional information that would be distributed, and we have also been trying to work—we have just announced utilizing the resources that were just provided to us at the 

end of last year, we have just announced the contracting with the 

public relations firm, Ketchum, who will help us put together the 

plan, not only for the money that Congress has already provided 

to us but how we would best utilize that money going forward but 

we do have tentative plans that I can provide. 

Mr. DINGELL. In my letter, Mr. Chairman, I will be submitting 

2 questions as to this matter. Would you please give us in that response as full answers as you can as to the plans with regard to 

spending that money? 

Mr. MARTIN. Sure. 

Mr. DINGELL. Is this going to be sufficient money to insure that 

there is adequate awareness on the part of the consuming public 

of these coupons and of the impending problems with regard to the 

changeover from analog to digital? 

Mr. MARTIN. I think that you have to put in context this money 

alone would not be enough but you have to put in context with the 

education efforts that are ongoing both by NTIA about the converter box program and the industry. Both the broadcasters and 

the cable operators and the Consumer Electronics Association have 

59 

all put forth additional educational efforts, and I think in that context I think that it could be enough. If Congress thinks that we 

need more, we would obviously welcome additional resources. 

Mr. DINGELL. Madam Secretary, have you requested any funds 

in the budget for consumer education, or are you relying on the 

budget of the FCC on this matter? 

Ms. BAKER. We are relying on the FCC’s budget as well as the public-private partnerships of which we already have. We had $5 

million for consumer education. We have hired Ketchum and we 

have done a pretty outstanding reach at this point. We have 15 

Federal partners and 130 social organization partners, and we are 

part of the DTV coalition which is over 200 members strong, so we 

have not requested any additional funds. 

Mr. DINGELL. Do you regard that $5 million as being sufficient? 

Ms. BAKER. At this point we are very encouraged with the consumer education program and we are not requesting any further 

money. 

Mr. DINGELL. Very well. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your 

courtesy. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The chair recognizes 

the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Deal. 

Mr. DEAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Martin, I have 

just a few questions for you as it relates to the white space technology as that issue of technology pertains to the DTV transition. 

Is it your opinion that continued testing of these devices by the 

FCC will interfere with the DTV transition? 

Mr. MARTIN. I don’t think any testing of the devices will interfere, no. Whether or not the devices will demonstrate that they can 

operate or not operate, we will have to wait and see. The testing 

is ongoing now. The engineers and the labs are doing it. It is open 

so that any broadcaster and/or any technology company can come 

watch but the testing alone won’t interfere. The question is whether the devices themselves would, and we will have to wait and see. 

Mr. DEAL. And that is the purpose of the testing obviously. 

Mr. MARTIN. That is right. 

Mr. DEAL. And if you were to issue a rulemaking allowing these 

devices to be used is it true that these devices could not even come 

to the marketplace until after the DTV transition date has passed 

and therefore could not interfere with DTV transition? 

Mr. MARTIN. At this point I think practically that is correct. 

Originally, I had committed to Congress based on the testing of the 

devices we had already received, we would try to put them in place 

and allow for them to come into the marketplace by the end of this 

year, but because the first round of testing was not successful to 

show that it wouldn’t interfere we asked for additional devices and 

we are undergoing testing now, and I think practically that is the 

case. 

Mr. DEAL. And of course if the FCC determines that these devices can operate without interference, do you see that this is a 

new marketplace from which consumers would benefit? 

Mr. MARTIN. Oh, absolutely. I think so. 

Mr. DEAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will yield back my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Gonzalez. 

60 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I have 

to comment on your announcement that you have introduced the 

Markey-Pickering bill, and I hoping that we are going to have a 

full discussion, a good faith debate in it because of course I have 

some concerns, and I am going to ask Chairman Martin for his assistance to this committee that all the members fully understand 

the implications or the need for the legislation. Again, I really 

mean this in good faith that we understand what the Internet really represents and what it is, the difference between the network 

and ISP, content aggregators, search engines, operating software 

applications, device manufacturers. We also, I think, need a good 

education on delivery systems whether it is going to be copper, coaxial, fiber optic, power line, and of course wireless. 

I think we need to understand the relationships among all of the 

different participants in providing this access to the Internet because I think we all have the same goal at the end of the day, and 

that is to make sure that we have a robust build out, maintenance 

and improvement of our broadband capacity, so when is broadband 

capacity management legitimate or illegitimate, appropriate or inappropriate, necessary and sometimes unnecessary, so I am hoping 

in the search for truth that we end up evaluating and analyzing 

again the need and of course the implications for the proposed legislation. I am going to ask Secretary Baker a question so I can sort 

of understand what is going on. Starting January 1, 2008, was 

when the request for coupons took place. It is going to end on 

March 31, 2009, correct? They will be mailed on February 17 in 

about 4 days or so, right? 

Ms. BAKER. We are going to start mailing. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. You are going to start mailing them in about 4 

days. 

Ms. BAKER. Correct. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And they will be able to be redeemed obviously, 

and there is going to be an expiration date, and I am going to ask 

you about the expiration date. My concern is, and I think as much 

as we prepare for it and work for it and so on, that you are still 

going to have a tremendous demand after February 17, 2009, when 

the television sets go dark. Do you anticipate at that point a tremendous spike in the demand, and you are only going to have a 

window of about 90 days, I guess, or less, about a month and a 

half, I am sorry, from the time that the coupons will no longer be 

available. Do you anticipate a demand at that point when we reach 

a crisis state and people obviously are made aware because they 

can’t watch their television sets, and if you do anticipate a tremendous demand how does the expiration of the coupons play into that 

but more so do you have a contingency plan in case demand will 

out pace the resources that are available to you? 

Ms. BAKER. Well, first of all, the way the coupon program is set 

up, Congress set it up so we started accepting coupons on January 

1, 2008. We have been testing our systems to make sure that they 

work, and we thought clarity was important so we set the date of 

February 17 to start mailing out the coupons or to start the processing of the coupons. February 17 is a Sunday. That is probably 

why we are not having this hearing on February 17. So the first 

batch of coupons will go out that week. We are going to monitor 

61 

it carefully. We are going to send out probably not as many as we 

could the first week so that we can make sure the systems are up 

and running. I think you are right. As we work through this, as 

there are more coupons out there, as there are more boxes and 

manufacturers, particularly as we get towards the end of this program, February 17, 2009, at midnight when all full power broadcasting is turned off, and people go on February 18, February 19, 

maybe February 22 because they don’t watch much TV and they 

turn on their television and it doesn’t work, I think that we will 

see a spike there. I think we will see—we had always anticipated 

the largest number of coupon applications would be towards the 

end of the year, the Christmas season, and also in the JanuaryFebruary range of next year. 

We were able to allow accepting coupons until March 31, 2009, 

so there is a window there of about a month and a half for people 

who turn on their television and it doesn’t work, that they can still 

apply for a coupon. As far as the 90-day expiration goes, I think 

I have mentioned that we are interested in looking into that after 

all of the coupons have been—after we see the redemption rate on 

the coupons we will be getting back to you in Congress and consulting with you as to what the redemption rate is and how much 

it would cost to put people back in the line at the end of the line. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. When these coupons are sent out, this first wave 

which I know is almost like a test wave of the coupons then we will 

actually know how it is really working with the retailers and such. 

My understanding, you have about 34 different converter boxes 

that have been approved that would have the added feature, the 

analog pass through feature, is that correct? 

Ms. BAKER. Yes. There are 37 that are approved at this point 

and 4 of them which have the analog pass through. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And I guess when we have our next hearing you 

will be reporting the results of this initial mailing of the coupons 

and the redemption rates, and I think we will start hearing maybe 

from our constituents as to again the application, the installation, 

and the problems with that. I do want to point one thing out that 

I think is very important as you go through your list of qualified 

or certified retailers. In the San Antonio area they are not listed 

on here because their appeal was actually granted, and that is 

going to be ATB, which is a very prominent, prominent grocery 

store chain in all of South Texas. It is a huge endeavor. But I assure you that you probably will have more consumers in those impacted neighborhoods that feel more comfortable and will be obviously visiting the ATB store much more so than many of the large 

electronic outlets which I appreciate their contribution. 

The last question, I have 2 minutes. The coupons can be for $40. 

I think your testimony was that the converter boxes are going to 

be selling anywhere from $50 to $70? 

Ms. BAKER. Correct. $40 to $70. Actually I think Consumer Electronics, one of the manufacturers, announced a $39.99 box. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. OK. But we are not going to know that until after 

they go to redeem these particular coupons. There is no definite 

price that we could say that is what is going to happen on February 18-19 when people receive their coupons. We will have to 

wait, is that correct? 

62 

Ms. BAKER. That is right. There are certain permissive features 

in the boxes such as smart antennas, BTSC audio output, enhanced 

program guide, Energy Star. Some of them are Energy Star qualified. So I think that boxes are not all the same so that they were 

priced differently. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And, forgive me, what is part of the criteria? Do 

you have any on price when you—when you certified a converter 

box manufacturer what is the parameters, I guess, of pricing? 

Ms. BAKER. We don’t have any parameters on pricing. The pricing is up to the market. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. OK. Is there any other criteria that you would 

have? 

Ms. BAKER. Well, we are testing for 24 features in the testing of 

the boxes. We want to make sure the boxes work when they plug 

them in so we have had in conjunction with the FCC labs we have 

been testing these boxes to make sure that they work. There are 

closed captioning requirements. There are parental control requirements that are written into the statute. We want to make sure 

those things work so we have had pretty rigid testing going on at 

the FCC labs. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And the converter box that will meet the minimum requirements for certification whether it had additional features, will people still be able to use their vouchers? 

Ms. BAKER. As I mentioned, there are several permissive features but there are also disqualifying features. I think if it had a 

DVD in it, it would not be qualified. The parameters that Congress 

gave us is for a very simple box that has a remote control. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, and I yield back my 10 

seconds, Mr. Chairman. 

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

from Oregon, Mr. Walden, is recognized. 

Mr. WALDEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. In Oregon 

we are running about 2-1/2 times the national rate for filing for the 

coupons. We appreciate the updates we get from NTIA. Realizing 

we also have a lot of translators in low power but especially translators given the mountainous areas of the state. I know realizing 

it was going to take some extra time to get these translators upgraded to digital the DRA—we created a fund and reimbursed low 

power TV and translator station licensees in rural communities 

was set up to provide them reimbursement. I am concerned about 

the timing of that reimbursement. This isn’t your issue. It is our 

issue because we wrote the statute and set the time lines but now 

in retrospect it looks like to me there is a problem in the disconnect 

there in that you were originally supposed to make the payments 

during fiscal year 2009, but not actually put the checks in the mail 

until, this will shock you, the next fiscal year, October 1, 2010. 

I know Senator Snow has put a bill 2607 aimed at moving up the 

date that NTIA is permitted to put the checks in the mail and 

allow for you to disburse the reimbursement sooner, in fact, fiscal 

year 2009 through 2012. Do you think this is needed? Are you 

hearing from low power folks? 

Ms. BAKER. I think it is—we strongly support the bill that Senator Snow as well as Senator Stevens have introduced, and I think 

it is $65 million which I think the goal is the digital transition so 

63 

it would be helpful to assist these low power stations to actually 

go digital, and I think that was the intention of this. 

Mr. WALDEN. Thank you. That is good to know. Chairman Martin, a couple of things. First, as an old broadcaster, I am now out 

of the business, I am concerned about your rulemaking related to 

mandating that broadcasters have to air public service, so-called 

public service announcements on a fairly regimented schedule, and 

the effect that can have. I don’t know that you have ever done that 

before at the FCC. Has the FCC ever mandated other than perhaps 

on the emergency alert system requirements and on relicensing 

issues, I think, we had to run announcements. 

Mr. MARTIN. Yeah. Yeah. 

Mr. WALDEN. Have you ever taken this step before? 

Mr. MARTIN. No, there has never been another step that we have 

taken to mandate these kind of public service announcements. 

Mr. WALDEN. It seems a rather slippery slope, frankly, to me. 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, I think it reflected the gravity and the concern that many people had to make sure that broadcasters were 

doing all they could to educate consumers. Chairman Markey and 

Chairman Dingell had sent us letters last summer encouraging us 

to open the rulemaking and consider that requirement to make 

sure that broadcasters and all the industries the commission regulates were taking all the steps they could to inform consumers. As 

I said in my opening statement the broadcasters have recently filed 

an alternative plan where they would have some more flexibility 

but make some voluntary commitments of what they would end up 

doing as a safe harbor potentially and so the commission is currently evaluating that, and I hope that the commission will act on 

that soon. 

Mr. WALDEN. I hope you will take the voluntary effort into consideration. Let me move on to a different topic and that is the timing issue. Having been not in the TV business but the radio business, I know during certain times of the year it is easy to send engineers up and down your tower and at other times it is not, and 

at certain times you can’t push to a certain date and have an engineer available at every station necessarily. A lot of these are consulting engineers that get brought in. 

Given that the statute calls for a specific one-day change, do you 

anticipate any problems with stations being able to accommodate 

that change on a given day in the winter? 

Mr. MARTIN. What we do anticipate is that will require, as you 

said, some of the broadcasters to begin to work people earlier in the 

year to make sure that they are capable of making that change, 

and that may require some temporary disruptions of service. One 

of the things that the commission did in the order we adopted at 

the end of last year was put in place that kind of flexibility for the 

broadcasters and which we allowed them to come forward and say 

that I can only schedule a construction crew on a certain date prior 

to that date so I need to be able to move my antenna at that time 

so I need to have flexibility. 

Mr. WALDEN. So you got that built into your—— 

Mr. MARTIN. We have got a streamlined process for approval for 

any kind of flexibility that is needed to make sure that they can 

make that transition on that day. 

64 

Mr. WALDEN. And I think that is important for the committee 

and for the consumers to know that in some markets the date may 

actually be different than February 17, ’09. 

Mr. MARTIN. That is right, and one of the aspects of providing 

them that flexibility is we said that they would have to inform 

their viewers in those markets to make sure that viewers understood that they could have this implication. At times it could be a 

temporary change as they are going through the construction but 

at times it could be more permanent but either way we have different flexibility for those two circumstances, but either way we 

have required them to inform their viewers. 

Mr. WALDEN. Secretary Baker, quickly as I am running out of 

time here, we heard from Mr. Boucher about the transition funding 

and all in England and the way that worked. Do you believe that 

given the voluntary contributions by various industry groups, cable 

and others, that there is sufficient resource there coupled with the 

taxpayer money? Very quickly, please. 

Ms. BAKER. Given the outstanding public-private partnerships 

that we have seen, I think people are stepping up. I think the funding is sufficient. 

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

chair recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Solis. 

Ms. SOLIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. There are 12 minutes left to go until the vote on 

the floor. 

Ms. SOLIS. I have basically two questions. My first question is for 

Administrator Baker, and it is regarding the challenges that I 

think we are going to be foreseeing here along the U.S. and Mexican border, particularly the low power TV stations and DTV transition, and I understand that the NTIA has only certified 4 converter 

boxes thus far analog pass through technology out of 37, and we 

know that right now there are communities that are going to be 

disadvantaged, so is the NTIA able to pinpoint where these geographical areas are in the U.S.? Do we have any of that data? 

Ms. BAKER. We are able to tell—are you asking where the low 

power stations are? Yes, absolutely. And I do know that your district in particular is higher—it is 17.5 percent over the air viewers 

so I do think it is particularly important for education. You are 

right, we only have 4 certified boxes at this point. In our final rule, 

we encouraged the permissive feature of the analog pass through. 

I sent out a letter to all of the manufacturers and asked them 

again to consider this important audience. In response we have visited with several of the major manufacturers, and we have notices 

of intent from more than half a dozen for more boxes that will be 

analog pass through so I think there will be sufficient boxes on the 

market to serve these markets that need these boxes. 

Ms. SOLIS. Are you also willing to work with retailers along the 

U.S.-Mexican border because I am up in Los Angeles but obviously 

in Texas and other important states that is where I think we are 

really not seeing a lot of involvement with the retail industry there, 

and I would ask what outreach is happening if you could give us 

that information, and would encourage you to do that. 

Ms. BAKER. We will be glad to do so. 

65 

Ms. SOLIS. And then my next question is for both of you. Can the 

FCC or NTIA require appropriate labeling for analog pass through 

technology in the form of some information like a sticker that could 

be placed on the product. One of the questions or concerns I have 

is that so many people in our communities don’t even know what 

that means. And I think that it can be very misleading in terms 

of what they have to purchase or what they should be purchasing, 

and I think we have to do a better job at providing not just relying 

on the retailers to give that information but having something that 

is certified from the FCC or NTIA that can do that. Is that something that we can maybe plan on? 

Ms. BAKER. We do not have the labeling authority. Originally we 

thought it might be a bad idea just because we thought we might 

have all sorts of boxes that might claim it when the didn’t have it 

but we have since changed our position on that and we think that 

the manufacturers should label their boxes and I think that many 

of them are labeling their boxes for the analog pass through and 

we are encouraging that now. 

Mr. MARTIN. I think that certainly trying to encourage both the 

manufacturers of the boxes and the retailers to be identifying the 

boxes that have the pass through is going to be important. I have 

encouraged both the manufacturers that tried to put this capability 

in all their boxes but certainly in some of them, and I have encouraged the retailers to make sure that they carry at least one that 

has an analog pass through but I think labeling is a good idea. I 

hope the commission has complimentary role with the converter 

box program, but I am not sure that we would have the authority 

to require labeling of those but certainly we can do all we can to 

encourage that. 

Ms. SOLIS. And just going back to concerns that members of the 

committee have had about giving information publicly and the 

broadcasters providing PSAs to give information to our communities, I think that is great. However, just in the last 2-month 

cycle, I have been getting a lot of phone calls in my office and many 

Spanish speakers are not fully aware of what this means. Congresswoman, do I have to buy a converter box? I have cable, do I 

need to do this? So I think there still has to be a lot more clarification in detail so it isn’t just enough to say that in February, 2009 

this is what is going to happen to you. People are getting worried 

and scared and they are calling our offices. I don’t know if other 

members are picking that up but I certainly am especially with the 

senior community, Spanish language senior community, so I think 

there still has to be some testing that goes on out there about what 

and how we phrase these words and technology. 

So many people still are thinking what do I need to purchase to 

make sure that we don’t go black, that we are out, and I really 

think that we have a responsibility and maybe we do need to beef 

up your budgets to do that, and I would like to just get a response. 

Ms. BAKER. I think you are right. It is a very important outreach. 

Secretary Gutierrez himself has done several Spanish language. He 

has done CNN Espanol, Washington Hispanic, La Penun, Radio 

Hispanica—— 

Ms. SOLIS. But they are very short. They are 30 seconds. In that 

sound bite you don’t get the full gist of what has to happen here 

66 

and what takes place. People have to have things explained to 

them in more detail so that is what I am asking for. 

Mr. MARTIN. I agree. The Consumers Union survey recently indicated that we need to do more in educating people, not just that 

it is coming but what they have to do, and I think that will be the 

challenge of the consumer education efforts from us and the industry. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired. There are 6 minutes and 42 seconds left to go on the roll call on the House floor. 

If I recognize the gentleman from Texas for 5 minutes that will 

leave us all a minute and a half to make it over to the House floor. 

The gentleman is recognized to ask a round of questions. 

Mr. GREEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and after I am finished 

you all get to leave and we go vote, so this will be quick. Chairman 

Martin, I learned earlier this year, I learned the problems that the 

Spanish language DTV help line at the FCC. Can you tell us what 

has been done to correct that, someone calling in to the help line 

in Spanish? 

Mr. MARTIN. We do end up having an opportunity for someone 

calling in and asking for direction in Spanish and provide that assistance. I am not sure what the problem was that was identified 

but I will look into it, and we will certainly work to correct it if 

there was a problem with our Spanish help line at the time. 

Mr. GREEN. Well, generally they couldn’t get through the line, 

and when they did the people on the line were not Spanish speakers. 

Mr. MARTIN. Well, then that would be a problem so I didn’t—I 

wasn’t aware of that, but we will certainly correct it. I think it has 

already been corrected but I will certainly make sure it has been 

corrected. 

Mr. GREEN. We will follow up with you, and I know our chair 

will continue to have hearings and we will follow up with the members who are interested. Secretary Baker, I mentioned in my opening statement about the expiration date of 90 days, and also that 

some of our retailers are only carrying the higher end cost. I know 

there will be converter boxes as low as $39.99 coming out, but they 

may not be here until June or July. If someone gets something next 

month are they going to have to come and get another coupon to 

be able to get the cheaper one that they might be able to afford in 

low income areas instead of paying 20 bucks more? 

Ms. BAKER. I think we are seeing the market do different things 

with the prices of the boxes so I think that we will still be watching 

that. As far as the 90 days, I am committed to look at that with 

the Congress as soon as we see the redemption rates on these coupons. 

Mr. GREEN. OK. Is there a way that that could be extended much 

easier than having them send it back and go through that mechanism again? 

Ms. BAKER. It really is a valuable tracking mechanism at this 

point so we can see which coupons are being redeemed. 

Mr. GREEN. Well, that gets me to my next question. I know the 

stats show that NTIA sends out—that 9 percent of the total applications have been denied. What are some of the common reasons 

for being denied aside from being duplicates, and I have also noVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:13 Apr 06, 2010 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00074 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-88 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
67 

ticed a number of phone applications being denied labeled as invalid. And you know why that is, and I guess looking at information Senator Nelson sent yesterday that there was a decision not 

to send coupons to multi-family locations. Now I have to admit my 

area of Houston may not have as many as South Florida but we 

do have folks who live in senior citizen centers, assisted living centers, and they all have their own TV. It may not be attached to 

cable to that facility. Is that part of the reason that we are seeing 

some of the denials? 

Ms. BAKER. That is part of the—the largest amount of denials 

are from duplicate submissions. Second to that are PO boxes. I 

think we made PO boxes not eligible if you were not in a rural or 

tribal Alaskan situation because of some of the fraud that had gone 

on with the FEMA Katrina cards. 

Mr. GREEN. So you are requiring a fixed address but they may 

only get their mail at a PO box, is that—— 

Ms. BAKER. You have to have a physical U.S. household address 

to get a—— 

Mr. GREEN. OK. Does it have to be mailed at that address? 

Ms. BAKER. The box needs to be mailed to that address at this 

point, yes, or the coupons. 

Mr. GREEN. The problem we have though is that I have seniors 

that I suggest not to get any mail at home because of the theft of 

mail in some neighborhoods. You know, you might revisit that and 

look at it, and if they put a physical address on there that is able 

to be audited then you might want to check on that and see if their 

mailing address, maybe a PO box. 

Ms. BAKER. I agree. Congress gave us a definition of household 

and we just looked down the hall and used the census definition 

of household which does exclude group quarters, and we realized 

this problem and we are looking into fixing it, particularly as far 

as the nursing home situation goes, and possibly dealing with exceptions on a case by case basis. 

Mr. GREEN. Mr. Chairman, my last question is I noticed in an 

article in CQ yesterday that patent holders, for example, for the 

ATSE technology part of the cost of this is there is a large percentage, in fact, 20 percent of the cost may be paying for patent. Believe me, if I had invented something, I would want 20 percent but 

is that a high percentage cost say for $69.99 or $59.99 that converter boxes available at Best Buy that patent holders are being reimbursed much more than normal? 

Ms. BAKER. Well, coming from the Commerce Department we are 

big fans of IP, intellectual properties, and patents so I understand 

that that is a high—it is the same as a DVD that costs about 

$59.95 so it is in line with other consumer electronics—those 

prices. 

Mr. GREEN. OK. What about something that may be needed? I 

don’t need a DVD but if I am going to be able to see TV over the 

air something that is actually more mandated like a TV set, what 

would be the patent cost or percentage cost for that? I assume it 

would be very low because of the mass production. 

Ms. BAKER. Unfortunately, I don’t have that figure. I would be 

happy to get back to you on that. 

68 

Mr. GREEN. Well, that is one of the concerns, I think, when people are realizing that they might be paying much more percentage 

wise for something that is mandated or something that they have 

to have instead of something if I don’t—that $59.95 for DVD, I 

don’t want it, I don’t need it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time has expired. There is a 

minute and 11 seconds left to get over to the House floor. There 

are 2 votes that are pending. We will probably take a 15-minute 

break at this time at least. It could go a little bit longer, so we will 

then hear from the second panel. And with the thanks of the subcommittee the first panel has completed its testimony. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. MARKEY. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. I apologize for the extended break. There were several unanticipated roll 

calls. We continue to have a highly contentious atmosphere out on 

the House floor. Here, however, we are working together in harmony to find a solution to the problems which are raised by the 

transition from analog to digital television by February 17, 2009. 

And we have for our second panel a very, very distinguished group 

of people, who reflect just about every perspective that needs to be 

heard from in the resolution of the remaining issues. 

We are going to begin, and I am going to ask each of you to keep 

your opening statement to 5 minutes, no more than 5 minutes. We 

are already deep into the afternoon, but I promise you that there 

will be much interest on the part of the members of the subcommittee to probe more deeply into your testimony. So with that, 

I am going to recognize Ron Bruno, who is the President of Community Broadcasters Association. Mike Doyle, who is the congressman from western Pennsylvania on this subcommittee, cannot be 

here at this moment. I think there is an ice storm which has affected travel from Pittsburgh to come down here. But he wanted 

me to extend his best to you, sir, and whenever you are ready, you 

are recognized to address the Subcommittee on Telecommunications for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF RONALD J. BRUNO, PRESIDENT, COMMUNITY 

BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATION, PRESIDENT, BRUNOGOODWORTH NETWORK, INC., PITTSBURGH, PA 

Mr. BRUNO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member 

and distinguished members of the subcommittee. I am honored to 

be here today to discuss how the converter digital box program and 

the transition generally will affect our industry. I applaud and appreciate your opening remarks, Mr. Chairman, and Chairman Dingell’s comments, as well as the other ladies and gentlemen that 

have commented positively on our issue and seem to understand it. 

More than 10 years ago, Congress and the FCC gave full power 

stations second channels on which to operate their digital stations. 

Low power stations were not given a second channel. Our industry 

has been told for the last 10 years that we would get digital channel assignments when all the full power stations were ‘‘taken care 

of.’’ 

Only 6 months ago LPTV stations started to get their digital 

channels granted. To date, only 35 percent of LPTV stations have 

been granted a digital station, a second channel. To put this into 

69 

perspective there are 567 class A stations, 2,227 low power stations, and 4,418 translators that will not be making the transition 

in February of next year. To be clear, that is 80 percent of the stations in the country will continue to be broadcasting in analog after 

February, 2009. Our industry was under the impression that adequate time would be provided for our stations to make the transition once our second channels were received. Unfortunately, the 

digital converter box program currently in use funded by taxpayer 

dollars and administered by a government agency cuts our conversion time to zero to the point where bankruptcy is the only logical 

result for most of our stations. 

Not long ago, Congress mandated NTIA to develop rules for manufacturers to follow to build these boxes. Despite the CBA and the 

translator stations commenting to NTIA about the continued analog operations of our stations, NTIA determined that including an 

analog tuner in a box was in violation of the congressional mandate. Therefore, all boxes that have been certified by the NTIA and 

manufactured do not have an analog tuner. And as we heard today, 

only 4 of 37 certified boxes, even pass through analog signals, in 

a manner that we call user hostile that will lead to consumer confusion in its installation and use. In a few days the public will start 

to receive $40 coupons from NTIA for a DTV conversion box. 

These people will go out to buy a box. If they have purchased one 

of the vast majority of boxes certified by the NTIA once they get 

home and plug it in they will realize that they will lose their ability 

to receive the analog broadcast continuing to be transmitted from 

80 percent of the nation’s TV transmitter facilities. This will cause 

confusion and anger among the general public when they can no 

longer watch the local programming that they have previously enjoyed and relied upon, and with each block sold that is one less 

viewer for class A and low power stations. With the expectation of 

sales being in the vicinity of 30 million boxes without a speedy and 

effective remedy our industry is simply out of business, Mr. Chairman. 

With the extinction of class A stations goes the only mandated 

locally produced programming on television. The CBA believes that 

the manner in which NTIA implemented this program is in violation of the longstanding requirements mandated in the All Channel 

Receiver Act, and while we have filed a Petition for Declaratory 

Ruling to this effect at the FCC, we indeed may have no choice but 

to take our case to the courts. We remain cautiously optimistic that 

Congress, the NTIA, and the FCC will do the right thing for our 

industry. We understand that Chairman Martin and his staff have 

a comprehensive proposal to help our stations. We applaud Chairman Martin and all his staff for working so hard with us on this 

issue. We also applaud other industry groups like the NAB for 

their help to get educational efforts out to consumers that they will 

not get stuck with these bad TV converter boxes. 

And while we look forward to the actions of the commission and 

others, the steps needed to take to insure the survival of these 

7,212 stations will need your help. First, the CBA requests that 

Congress mandate the NTIA going forward to only authorize boxes 

that are equipment with both an analog and digital tuner. We also 

request that the 90-day expiration date on the coupon is overly 

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burdensome to our consumers and should be changed to 180 days. 

In stores where boxes with analog and digital tuners are not available consumers should be allowed to use coupons for other devices 

that have analog and digital tuners. And because our industry is 

being effectively forced into the transition significantly faster than 

anticipated and much faster than the full power transition took, we 

accordingly respect and request that the NTIA be provided additional funds to assist class A and low power stations with the transition and any said funding should be made available to the station 

this year. 

In closing, Mr. Chairman, I just want to say that we have had 

for 3 years our proposal here for very limited class A must carry 

where we would convert to digital on channel and forego our analog 

channels, and that has not gone anywhere. Mr. Chairman, I look 

forward to working with you. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bruno follows:] 

STATEMENT OF RON BRUNO

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: 

My name is Ron Bruno, and I am President of the Community Broadcasters Association (CBA), the trade association of the nation’s Class A and low power television 

stations (LPTV). Our stations provide important programming to audiences throughout the country, including local news, sports and public affairs to underserved communities, as well as religious, Spanish language and other ethnic programming. I 

am honored to be here today to discuss how the digital converter box program, and 

the transition generally, will affect our industry. 

More than 10 years ago, Congress and the FCC gave full power stations second 

channels on which to operate their digital stations. Low power stations were not 

given a second channel at that time because LPTV stations are a secondary service. 

Our industry has been told for the last 10 years that we would get our digital channel assignments when all of the full power stations were ′′taken care of′′. Only 6 

months ago, LPTV stations started to get their digital channels granted by the FCC. 

To date, only 35% of LPTV stations have been granted a second channel. 

To put this in perspective, there are 567 Class A Stations, 2227 Low Power stations and 4,418 translator stations that will not be making the transition in February of next year. To be clear, that is 80% of the stations in the country will continue to broadcast in analog after February of 2009. Our industry was under the 

impression that adequate time would be provided to our stations to make the transition once our second channels were received. Unfortunately, the digital converter 

box program currently in use, funded by tax payer dollars and administered by a 

government agency, cuts our industry’s conversion time to zero and to the point 

where bankruptcy is the logical result for most of our stations. 

Not that long ago, Congress mandated NTIA to develop rules for manufacturers 

to follow to build these boxes. Despite the CBA and the translator stations commenting to NTIA about the continued analog operation of our stations, NTIA determined that including an analog tuner in the box was a violation of the mandate. 

Therefore all boxes that have been certified by the NTIA and manufactured do not 

have an analog tuner. Only three of the over 30 boxes certified by the NTIA even 

′′pass through′′ analog signals, albeit in a manner that will likely lead to consumer 

confusion in installation and use. 

In a few days the public will start to receive $40 coupons from NTIA for a DTV 

conversion box. These people will go and buy a box. If they have purchased one of 

the vast majority of the boxes certified by the NTIA, once they get home and plug 

it in they will realize that they will lose their ability to receive analog broadcasts 

continuing to be transmitted from about 80% of the nation’s TV transmitter facilities. Local programming, religious services, high school sports, foreign language 

channels and political debates carried locally will not be able to be seen in these 

homes with the bad converter box. This will cause confusion and anger among the 

general public when they can no longer watch the local programming that they have 

previously enjoyed and relied upon. 

And with each such box sold, that is one less viewer for a Class A, low power 

or translator station. With the expectation of sales being in the vicinity of 30 million 

71 

boxes, without a speedy and effective remedy, our industry is simply out of business 

Mr. Chairman. And with the extinction of Class A television stations goes the only 

mandated locally produced programming on television. 

The CBA believes that the manner in which NTIA implemented this program is 

in violation of long standing requirements mandated by Congress in the All Channel 

Receiver Act; and while we have filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling to this effect 

at the FCC and may indeed have no choice but to take our case to the courts, we 

remain cautiously optimistic that Congress, the NTIA and the FCC will do the right 

thing for our industry. 

We understand that FCC Chairman Martin and his staff have a comprehensive 

proposal to help our stations. We applaud Chairman Martin and all of his staff for 

working so hard with us on this issue. We also applaud other industry groups like 

the NAB for their help to get educational efforts out to consumers so that they will 

not get stuck with the bad DTV Converter boxes that only receives digital signals. 

And while we look forward to the actions of the Commission on issues relating to 

our industry, other steps need to be taken to ensure the survival of these 7,212 stations and the important service they provide to the public. 

First, the CBA requests that the Congress mandate the NTIA, going forward, to 

only authorize converter boxes that are equipped with both analog and digital tuners. We also suggest that the 90 day expiration date on the coupon is overly burdensome to consumers and should be changed to 180 days. In stores where boxes with 

analog and digital tuners are not available consumers should be allowed to use coupons for other devices that do have analog and digital tuners. Because our industry 

is being effectively forced into the transition significantly faster than anticipated, 

and much faster than full power stations, which had 10 years and much greater resources than we do to make this transition, we respectfully request that the NTIA 

be provided additional funds to assist Class A, low power and translator stations 

with the transition and any such funding should be made available to stations this 

year. 

Lastly, and I can’t stress this enough, the CBA has put forth a proposal to the 

Congress for the last three years that would have expedited and will expedite our 

industry’s transition to digital. Specifically, our proposal calls for Class A stations 

to be given limited cable carriage rights on the basic digital tier in exchange for 

foregoing the second channel to which we are entitled, thus freeing up spectrum and 

avoiding interference issues. The proposal is reasonable and it is fair, and I only 

hope that this Committee will seriously consider this proposal in the very near future. Our industry’s existence may very well depend on it. 

Mr. Chairman I appreciate your time today and look forward to answering all of 

your questions. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Bruno, very much. Our second witness, Kyle McSlarrow, is the President and CEO of the National 

Cable & Telecommunications Association. Welcome, sir. Whenever 

you are ready, please begin. 

STATEMENT OF KYLE MCSLARROW, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL CABLE & TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION, 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Mr. MCSLARROW. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member 

Stearns. I am pleased to be here. Earlier today Chairman Martin 

had a chart on cable prices with a few data points, which I think 

is his version of the American Express card because he never 

leaves home without it. In the narrowest sense the data points he 

used were accurate but uses to which they are put are false and 

deceptive, and rather than take time now with your permission, 

Mr. Chairman, I will send you a letter and explain why. On the 

digital transition first let me just compliment all my colleagues in 

the industry and at the FCC and NTIA for working together so 

well. I think that has actually been a real success story. 

The issue that Mr. Bruno raises is a legitimate one. This morning I received, as I am sure some of my colleagues did, a letter 

from Chairman Martin addressed to us urging us to work in volVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:13 Apr 06, 2010 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00079 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-88 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
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untary ways to address—to insure that low power stations are still 

seen by the viewers after the transition. And as regards cable what 

was put in the letter were voluntary ideas that I wouldn’t quibble 

with. We in fact carry hundreds of low power stations voluntarily 

today. We will do so in the future and I am certainly happy to work 

with that community to see if we can do even more of that and we 

are certainly supportive of making sure the analog pass through 

feature is in as many boxes as possible and participating in education campaign for consumers so that they know about them, 

know where they can get them, and actually get them. 

What is a little dismaying is that both in Chairman Martin’s testimony and in this letter there was no mention of an item that has 

been reported as circulating at the FCC which would go further 

and actually inject must carry for low power stations into this process, and I am troubled by it in two respects. One, just process once 

again. There is an item that no one has ever seen. So far as I could 

tell no one actually asked for it and so I don’t know exactly what 

is in it. Number 2, as you know, Mr. Chairman, you and others, 

Commissioner Adelstein and others on the commission urged the 

cable industry several years ago to reach a deal, a voluntary agreement with the public broadcasting stations to help them with their 

business plans after the digital transition, and we did. This committee, and I testified before you and made this commitment, asked 

us to step up and engage in a consumer education campaign which 

we launched last year, and we took many of the ideas if not all of 

the ideas that you suggested as part of that campaign, and this 

committee, and we worked with you and your staff and we appreciate it, urged us even though the legislation didn’t cross the finish 

line in 2005 because it was put in reconciliation to voluntarily figure out a plan to make the transition seamless for our customers 

and so working with you we came up with a 3-year dual carriage 

plan, which has now been incorporated into an FCC rulemaking. 

We are happy to do all that, but we are now a year out, and I 

would suggest, Mr. Chairman, and urge you to use your good offices to send a message to the FCC that this is a time for all of 

us to be working together to solve real problems and not raise red 

herrings that are probably just going to engender more confusion 

and greater possibility of litigation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. McSlarrow follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. McSlarrow. Our next witness, 

David Rehr, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Broadcasters. Welcome back, Mr. Rehr. Whenever you are ready, please begin. 

STATEMENT OF DAVID K. REHR, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS, WASHINGTON, 

D.C. 

Mr. REHR. OK. Thank you, Chairman Markey, and Ranking 

Member Stearns. Thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf of 

the National Association of Broadcasters on our number 1 television priority, a successful digital television transition. I would 

like to make 4 points today. One, NAB aggressively constructed a 

comprehensive and empirically based DTV education effort. Broadcasters are committed to insuring that no viewer anywhere is left 

uninformed. After all, over the air viewers are our life blood. In 

constructing our campaign, we have turned to experts in advertising, marketing, and consumer research to develop a program designed to reach every corner of America, and to determine the best 

way to educate consumers, particularly those most impacted such 

as senior citizens and minority in rural populations. 

This explains why every broadcast network in nearly 1,500 television stations nationwide have chosen to participate in NAB’s 

massive, multi-faceted, multi-platform campaign. NAB is committed to a comprehensive program of DTV action spots, 30-minute 

education programs, informational messages through crawls, 

snipes, and/or news tickers and other features such as a 100-day 

count down. All told the value of this campaign is estimated at 

more than $1 billion and will generate 132 billion audience impressions. We anticipate each household will either hear, see, or be exposed to this message some 642 times before February 17, 2009. 

Two, broadcasters have turned to the air waves to educate America about the transition. NAB is executing a disciplined and focused 

campaign. The first phase launched last fall drove the fact home 

that the transition was happening. Results of our January survey 

showed that consumer awareness has jumped dramatically to 79 

percent up from 38 percent just one year ago. We anticipate continued forward momentum. The second phase of our effort will be to 

focus on the converter box coupon program. NAB has produced 4 

new action spots and we would like to take the opportunity to show 

one now. Please play the spot. 

[Video.] 

Three, NAB and broadcasters have unleashed their creative talents which go beyond the air waves. A speaker’s bureau, we are on 

track to deliver more than 8,000 plus speeches to community 

groups nationwide. DTV trekkers, these customized trucks designed to look like giant televisions on wheels are crisscrossing 

America making more than 600 stops at local events. Today the 

trekkers are in Noel, Missouri and Orlando, Florida. Retailer outreach, we are teaming up with Wal-Mart and other retailers to air 

the DTV action spots on their in-store channels to educate shoppers 

to take action. Community outreach, NAB is partnered with a variety of organizations, including the leadership conference on civil 

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rights, the National Black Church Initiative, and Univision to 

name just a few to amplify our outreach efforts. 

And, finally, point 4. We must continue to build on our publicprivate partnership. Clearly this is not a project broadcasters can 

tackle alone. From the beginning we knew this effort would require 

everyone’s cooperation and involvement. The DTV coalition, a 

broad-based group of 207 organizations, including the FCC and 

NTIA, is taking the lead to insure a smooth transition. We look forward to working with all of our partners, including cable, electronics manufacturers, retailers, community broadcasters, consumer advocates, and the government as we go forward. The upcoming transition is a historic event for America. Crystal clear pictures, phenomenal sound, more programs and services, and it is 

free. I pledge that NAB and our broadcasters will do all we can to 

make the switch successful. 

We welcome the committee’s input. We thank you for your leadership. Thank you for inviting me here today, and I am happy to 

answer any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Rehr follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Rehr, very much. Our next witness, Chris Murray, is Senior Counsel for the Consumers Union. 

We welcome you today, sir. Whenever you are ready, please begin. 

STATEMENT OF CHRIS MURRAY, SENIOR COUNSEL, 

CONSUMERS UNION, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Mr. MURRAY. Thanks again for having me, Chairman Markey, 

and Ranking Member Stearns. I appreciate your attention in sitting through a long hearing today. So February 17 is more than 

just Paris Hilton’s birthday, we have learned today. It is the day 

at which in Mr. Barton’s district more than a half a million households without some sort of intervention or education between now 

and then those TVs will go blank. That is nearly 1 in 4 households 

in his district. In Mr. Green’s district we got nearly half a million 

households, about 23 percent. In the Los Angeles DMA, we have 

got nearly a million over the air households. It is my firm hope 

that the DTV transition is going to go absolutely swimmingly but 

it is my job to worry, and today I am here to express the fear that 

a few consumers are going to be left in the dark when the analog 

switch off occurs. 

There is good news and bad news for consumers today. Our Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a survey which 

had some troubling findings. They found that 3 in 4 consumers who 

are aware of the transition actually have major misconceptions 

about it. Half of them, nearly half of them, believe that every TV 

needs to be digital and those consumers are probably more likely 

to go out and buy a new TV set, not the worst thing in the world 

but it is important that they know what the least cost migration 

path to digital transition is for them. One in 4 consumers aware 

believe that they have to throw all their analog sets in the trash. 

Obviously, this generates concern from electronics waste perspective. 

And of those aware, nearly 3 in 4 don’t know about NTIA’s program for converter box coupons. One finding that I actually omitted 

in my written testimony is that 42 percent of consumers who have 

no functioning TV set after February 17, 2009, have no plans to do 

anything about it. Let me underscore that, 42 percent, nearly half 

of people, who will have no over the air signals, have no plans to 

do anything about it yet. I really hope this is going to change but 

right now I think there is cause for concern, 370 days and counting. Awareness is good but it is accurate information that we actually care about. We can be aware that a city bus is barreling towards us but it is a lot more important to know where that sidewalk is and to know how to side step that bus. 

Citizens and consumers didn’t ask for the digital transition and 

I believe since it is the result of a federal mandate it is the obligation of the Federal government to provide consumers good information to help them sort through some of the noise and find out what 

the least cost path is to switch to digital. So the FCC and NTIA 

who were in charge of the transition have consumer education 

budgets of $2.5 million and $5 million, respectively, at the moment. 

FCC has requested an additional $20. Just as a base line, I will 

note as Congressman Boucher did earlier, that in the UK, which 

has about 1/5 the population of the U.S., they are spending $400 

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million educating consumers on a per capita basis. That is about 

265 times more than we are presently planning to spend. Perhaps 

that is too big a number. Perhaps they are spending too much 

money. Perhaps we don’t need to go and knock on doors like they 

did, but should we be concerned that we are not doing these things 

that perhaps there will be consumers who might not get reached. 

I believe that is the case. 

It is great that industry is spending a lot of money. I think the 

campaigns that are out there are excellent. I think the NAB’s commercials are informative. But in the end everybody does have a 

bias. Somebody is always looking to sell a product or service. Consumer electronics industry would like you to buy a new television 

set. Cable would like you to buy cable service. These are all good 

things but I do believe the government has an obligation to help 

consumers sort through the noise and find that least cost transition 

path. 

I will leave you with a couple of quick recommendations. First 

for consumers who want to get their converter boxes, they should 

apply early. Don’t wait to buy the box since it will expire 90 days 

from the date that that coupon gets put in the mail. And test your 

signal as early as you can because these digital signals are already 

out there, and you don’t need to wait until February 17 to run a 

test. Second, NTIA and the FCC, the agencies in charge of this program, need to keep their hands on the steering wheel, and as I said 

help consumers find that least cost path to make the switch. I wish 

we had perhaps run the clock back and find some test markets to 

do this. You see in other countries where they have done it in the 

UK and Italy, in Germany especially. They have done this in a 

phase-in basis. They haven’t done one flash cut switchover, and I 

believe that we need to find some test markets so that we know 

what is going to come. 

Finally, community leaders can’t exclusively rely on government, 

and we need a localized action plan. I do think that is a place 

where Congress can have a role in helping make their community 

leaders aware and helping them find some plans. So again on February 17 we are going to make the switch to digital, and unless 

adequate public education takes place millions of consumers will 

wake up that morning and find a blank TV screen, and it is my 

hope that this will all go swimmingly. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Murray follows:] 

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Mr. MARKEY. Thanks, Mr. Murray, very much. Our next witness, 

Tom Romeo, is the Director for Federal Services, Global Business 

Service or IBM Corporation, a very important person in this whole 

project, and we welcome him and please begin. 

STATEMENT OF TOM ROMEO, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL SERVICES, 

GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICE, IBM CORPORATION, BETHESDA, MARYLAND 

Mr. ROMEO. Chairman Markey and Ranking Member Stearns, 

thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today, and to 

provide you an update on the progress the IBM team has made in 

implementing the NTIA TV converter box coupon program. As Assistant Secretary Baker mentioned earlier on January 1 the consumer support center officially opened for business. It started taking orders from consumers across the nation for TV converter box 

coupons. On that first day over 249,000 applications came in from 

consumers in all 50 states. Over 475,000 coupons were requested 

on day one. While initial volume was higher than expected, all systems continued to handle requests and our team reacted quickly to 

pinpoint needed adjustments and implement solutions. 

For example, the volume of Spanish language callers to the consumer support center exceeded our initial projections. We moved 

quickly on two fronts to accommodate this fact. First, we added additional Spanish language agents to match the volume and minimize wait times for those needing assistance in Spanish. Second, 

we added an automated, interactive voice response system for 

Spanish language callers. Our experience with the English language IVR system shows that approximately 78 percent of the calls 

are successfully completed within the IVR system. We expect similar results for the Spanish language IVR. The high percentage of 

calls which are fully handled with the IVR system speaks to the 

ease of applying for coupons over the phone. Our experience with 

high demand during those first few weeks in January underscores 

the unique nature of this program. 

The IBM team has been able to react quickly and make adjustments to the system as unanticipated developments arise. The 

flexibility built into the system architecture will allow for continued 

rapid response and adjustments going forward. The next step is to 

begin mailing coupons to consumers. That will get underway next 

week starting February 17. Our roll out plan includes continuing 

to work closely with our retail partners to confirm sufficient inventory of converter boxes to meet consumer demand. If necessary we 

can adjust the rate of coupon distribution to match as closely as 

possible projected retail inventory so consumers are able to purchase a converter box within the 90-day expiration period for the 

coupons. 

In 118 days since I last came before this committee, we have 

made great progress in recruiting the voluntary participation of 

both large national retailers and smaller local retailers. Over 615 

retailers representing more than 16,475 stores nationwide are currently certified to participate in the program. Eight of the largest 

consumer electronic retailers, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart, 

RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart are among 

the 615 retailers certified to participate in the coupon program. ReVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:13 Apr 06, 2010 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00127 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-88 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
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tail recruitment efforts will continue until the March 31, 2008 

deadline. In preparation for coupon distribution to consumers, we 

completed a pilot program in two markets. This pilot program conducted during January and early February allowed for testing of all 

components of the system and their integration. 

Based on the results from the pilot program, we have made some 

updates to the system in the process, including the use of secret 

shoppers to validate the readiness of individual retail stores and 

revising language that appears on the coupon card to make for a 

consistent consumer experience. Although we are entering the 

operational phase of the coupon program, we remain focused on the 

driving force of consumer education. Our partner, Ketchum Public 

Affairs, continues to lead the consumer education effort focused on 

the 5 communities who most likely rely more heavily on over the 

air broadcasting than the general population. They are senior and 

older Americans, the economically disadvantaged, rural residents, 

people with disabilities, and 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. The NTIA TV converter box coupon program requires innovative thinking, leading technology, and flexibility. The 

IBM team is pleased to be part of this vital program and recognizes 

that many challenges remain along the way to February 17, 2009. 

Our team is ready to continue to meet those challenges and work 

to insure 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, and I am 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 has 

made implementing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) TV Converter Box Coupon Program. 

NTIA awarded IBM the contract to provide services for the TV Converter Box 

Coupon Program on August, 15, 2007. 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. 

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 digital-to-analog converter boxes. Households using analog televisions will not be able to receive digital broadcasts after 

February 17, 2009, unless the analog television is connected to a converter box that 

switches the digital signal to an analog format, or the analog television is connected 

to cable or satellite service. 

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 the initial $990 million allocated for the program 

has been exhausted. After this initial phase of the program, NTIA may request an 

additional $510 million already authorized by Congress. During this ′′contingent 

121 

period′′, coupons will be available exclusively to households that rely on over-theair broadcasting as their sole source of television programming. 

PROGRAM GOALS

With these 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. 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 LAUNCH

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 were able to order coupons using any of the four available options. 

The toll-free phone number (1-888-DTV-2009) is operational 24x7 with live agents 

available to callers at all times. Operators can accommodate requests in more than 

150 languages. The toll-free phone option also provides a TTY solution for use by 

the hearing impaired community. 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). To date, approximately 65% of the requests received have 

come in via the Internet, 35% via the telephone, and less than 1% for the mail and 

fax channels combined. 

On January 1, 2008, over 249,670 applications came in from consumers in all 50 

states for a total of 475,652 coupons requested. High demand continued through the 

first week of the program resulting in over 1,131,795 application requests for 

2,144,632 coupons by week’s end. While this initial volume was higher than expected, all systems continued to handle requests, and our team reacted quickly to 

pinpoint needed adjustments and implement solutions quickly. For example, the volume of Spanish-language callers to the Consumer Support Center exceeded our initial projections. We moved quickly on two fronts to accommodate this fact. First, we 

added additional Spanish-language agents to match the volume and minimize wait 

times for those needing assistance in Spanish during times of peak call volume. Second, we expedited implementation of an automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) 

system for Spanish-language callers to assist in handling the high volumes of Spanish-language requests in a timely manner. Our experience with the English-language IVR system shows that approximately 78% of calls are successfully completed 

within the IVR system. We expect similar results for the Spanish language IVR. The 

high percentage of calls which are fully handled within the IVR system speaks to 

the ease of applying for coupons over the phone. 

As the Coupon Program moves into the next phase, we will continue to closely 

monitor all aspects of the system and make adjustments as needed in a timely fashion. 

COUPON DISTRIBUTION

As of February 12, 2008, 4,801,777 coupons have been requested via 2,767,519 applications from consumers across the country. We will begin mailing these coupons 

out to consumers the week of February 17, 2008 distributing them in the order in 

which they were received. This roll out plan also includes continuing to work closely 

with our retail partners to confirm a sufficient number of converter boxes available 

at retail outlets to meet consumer demand. If necessary, we will adjust the rate of 

coupon distribution to match as closely as possible projected retail inventory so consumers are able to purchase a converter box within the 90-day expiration period for 

the coupons. 

Included in the coupon mailing to consumers is information about where they can 

purchase a coupon-eligible converter box in their local area, and what they need to 

do to use the coupon. Consumers can also search for participating retailers near 

their address using a ′′Retailers Near You′′ feature on the Coupon Program website 

(https://www.dtv2009.gov/VendorSearch.aspx). 

RETAILER PARTICIPATION

In the 118 days since I last came before this Committee, I am pleased to report 

that we have made great progress in recruiting the voluntary participation of both 

large national retailers and smaller, local retailers. We project that when coupons 

122 

are mailed starting the week of February 17, 2008, over 9,000 retail locations will 

be ready to fully participate in the program. This includes locations in all 50 states, 

Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These stores will 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. 

TEST PHASE

In preparation for coupon distribution to consumers, we have completed the Open 

Operational Capabilities Demonstration (OCD) phase of the program. This pilot program, conducted during January and early February, allowed for testing of all components of the system and their integration - coupon ordering, distribution, redemption at a participating retailer, and reimbursement to the retailer. The pilot program provided valuable insight into how well our technical systems are performing 

and identified necessary adjustments. Based on the results from the pilot program, 

we have made some updates to the system and the process, including the use of 

′′secret shoppers′′ to validate the readiness of individual retail stores, and revising 

language that appears on the coupon card to make for a consistent consumer experience. 

CONSUMER EDUCATION

Although we are entering the operational phase of the Coupon Program, we remain focused on the driving force of Consumer Education. 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. Focus groups, 

which included significant representation from these groups, were used to develop 

the branding and key messages for the Coupon Program. We continue to build and 

leverage a network of committed partners who already have access to many of the 

population segments we are targeting. A Partnership Toolkit was developed and includes DTV and Coupon Program background material, fact sheets, posters, sample 

public service announcements, and presentations. The materials can be co-branded 

for use by partners. Also included 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. We believe the 

strong demand for coupons indicates we are on the right track educating consumers 

about the Coupon Program. 

CONCLUSION

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 

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 am happy to answer any 

questions. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Romeo, very much. Our next witness, Laurance Harris, is the Vice President for Merchandising for 

RadioShack. Welcome, sir. 

STATEMENT OF LAURANCE HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT 

MERCHANDISING, RADIOSHACK, FORT WORTH, TX 

Mr. HARRIS. Good afternoon, Chairman Markey, and Ranking 

Member Stearns. I am Vice President of Merchandising at 

RadioShack Corporation. I am pleased to be here even more so 

when I saw the equipment we are using for recording is 

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portunity to speak on behalf of RadioShack and the Consumer 

Electronics Retailers Coalition to discuss the essential role of 

RadioShack and the retail industry are playing in NTIA’s converter 

box program. RadioShack has 4,400 owned and operated stores, an 

additional 1,500 dealer stores throughout the country. Even with 

our long experience, the digital transition presents unique challenges to RadioShack and other retailers and the consumer. We 

worked diligently over the last 3 years to help make this transition 

as smooth as possible for consumers. 

More recently retailers have worked closely with NTIA and its 

vendors. RadioShack is pleased to announce it will have converter 

boxes available in all of its corporate stores and through Direct-toYou program by February 22, in time for the initial distribution of 

the converter box coupons. We believe that RadioShack and 

CERC’s other brick and mortar members are prepared for the start 

of the program. Let me outline specific steps taken and planned by 

RadioShack and other retailers regarding the implementation. Retailers appreciate the steps taken by the NTIA to insure use of 

electronic coupons that work in a manner similar to plastic prepaid, private label cards, so each retailer participating in the converter box program must in some manner adopt its core point of 

sale systems. 

CERC members are proud that several of us were able to initiate 

work on the necessary changes during the 4th quarter which is of 

course our busiest sales period. We are on scheduled to complete 

the modifications in time for the coupon distribution. The adoption 

of a hard date for the DTV transition has provided certainty for retailers. They know when consumers will need to buy any necessary 

equipment. Nevertheless, no one knows how many households will 

need a converter box. Indeed, no one anticipated the request to exceed $4.8 million within the first month of the program. In reality, 

we anticipate that some of the coupons requested will not be redeemed for some customers will just simply not need a box. Even 

so RadioShack and other participating CERC members are creating 

distribution systems that will handle millions of converter boxes 

over the next 18 months. 

We are all working to insure we have inventory in the right place 

at the right time. We are pleased that the NTIA is providing us 

timely information regarding where consumer demand for coupons 

exist. We hope to receive even more granular detail on data and 

coupon redemption rates once the coupons are distributed. This information is critical so we can target inventory exactly where it is 

needed. We believe the retailers will be prepared to respond with 

initial coupon demand. As I mentioned, RadioShack will have stock 

ready when consumers receive their coupons. In the event that a 

RadioShack’s own store’s inventory is temporarily depleted, our 

sales associate can order the product from stock located in our Fort 

Worth distribution center. 

The converter box will then be shipped to the customer’s home 

at no additional shipping charge through our Direct-to-You program. We are also pleased to announce today for the first time we 

will be taking coupon orders by phone at RadioShack, 877-RSDTV4U beginning March 1. 

Mr. MARKEY. What was that number again? 

124 

Mr. HARRIS. Do you want to order a box? 877-RSD-TV4U. Again, 

it is our first announcement. That will be ready by around March 

1. The boxes will be shipped to the customer’s home, again free of 

shipping charges. Pricing the converter box even with its simple 

features presented challenges. We only recently became aware of 

one issue in December, 2007, as orders were being placed retailers 

learned that U.S. Customs had imposed a 5 percent import tax on 

these boxes. Retailers feel this duty on a product that the government has subsidized will serve to impede distribution and burden 

the consumers. We hope this committee will join in seeking a legislative waiver on this import duty as surely as Congress could not 

have intended this result. 

Regarding low power television, we think NTIA was right not to 

require the inclusion of a signal pass through feature in the converter box. In our own decision we focused in providing the price, 

quality, and features that the vast majority of customers would 

need. We decided not to include a pass through feature for all 

boxes for the same reasons because we know the private sector prepared solutions already for this issue for the households that need 

them. Perhaps the most important success is the private sector’s 

planning to educate customers about the digital transition. CERC 

applauds the efforts of our industry partners. We know these efforts are working. CA just announced last week that consumer 

awareness of the digital transition has grown 80 percent since 

2006. 

We also recognize that retailers have the most direct role in consumer education. We are the end game. We are the place where 

customers go to ask the questions. RadioShack’s consumer education plans are the following, an updated RadioShack web site, notifications in tens of millions of RadioShack direct mail flyers, on 

February 19 any receipt printed by a RadioShack store will alert 

the customer of the digital transition, in store window signs and 

banners, national advertising, radio advertising in both English 

and Spanish, and various public relations practices. 

RadioShack and all CERC members also recognize the critical 

importance of having trained sales associates to answer questions 

regarding the transition. RadioShack headquarters—— 

Mr. MARKEY. If you could please summarize your statement, sir. 

Mr. HARRIS. In conclusion, as we embark on this program, we 

want the committee to understand the extraordinary efforts retailers have undertaken. RadioShack, along with 4,400 stores and 

more than 30,000 retail employees and support staff will insure 

training throughout the program. We are confident we have the 

necessary training systems in place. Our employees will be ready 

for transition. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I look 

forward to answering any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Harris follows:] 

STATEMENT OF LAURANCE HARRIS

Good morning. My name is Larry Harris. I am Vice President of Merchandising 

at RadioShack Corporation. With the DTV transition date just over one year away, 

I appreciate the opportunity to appear today at this important hearing to discuss 

the essential role that RadioShack and the retail industry are playing in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) converter box 

program. I am here this morning to speak on behalf of both RadioShack and the 

125 

Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC), which in addition to RadioShack, 

includes as its members, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, Target, and 

WalMart, as well as three major retail associations - the North American Retail 

Dealers Association (NARDA), the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail 

Industry Leaders Association (RILA). 

BACKGROUND ON RADIOSHACK AND RETAIL INVOLVEMENT IN THE TRANSITION TO

DATE

RadioShack sells a wide variety of consumer electronics products and is one of the 

largest retailers of consumer electronics equipment in the United States, with 4,400 

owned and operated stores and an additional 1,500 dealer stores throughout the 

country. RadioShack is a primary resource to consumers for devices and accessories 

that assist in household connectivity and networking. Even with significant experience in the consumer electronics retail business, the transition to digital transition 

presents unique challenges to RadioShack, other retailers and to the consumer. 

RadioShack and the other members of CERC have understood for years the 

unique role retailers play in the transition to digital television. This role, of course, 

includes having the right products available at the right time for consumers. But 

equally important is the critical role retailers play in educating and assisting consumers in making purchasing decisions that best satisfy their needs. We have 

worked diligently over the last few years to help make this transition as smooth as 

possible for all consumers. At this time, there are approximately 250 certified retailers in the converter box coupon program. Each of the retailers participating in the 

coupon program is working closely with NTIA and its vendors, IBM and CLC, on 

the program’s implementation. RadioShack is pleased to announce that it will have 

converter boxes available in all of its corporate stores by February 22nd, to coincide 

with the initial distribution and receipt of coupons. In addition, all stores will be 

able to accept coupons beginning on February 19th, through our Direct-to-You program which I will discuss later. Several other CERC members have similarly announced their intentions to have stock in stores by the time coupons are received 

by consumers. 

The converter box program as created by Congress presents unique challenges to 

retailers, but we believe that RadioShack and CERC’s other brick-and-mortar members are prepared for the start of the program. And like the other industry groups 

involved - the broadcast, cable and manufacturing companies - the retail industry 

is investing millions of its own dollars and, equally important, significant human 

resources to facilitate a smooth transition. This public-private sector balance is purposeful and is proving to be an effective means by which to make the digital transition. 

During the rest of my testimony, I outline specific steps taken and planned by 

RadioShack and other retailers regarding the implementation of the coupon program, including the implementation of new point-of-sale (POS) functionality, inventory plans, pricing issues and consumer education. In addition to discussing these 

steps, I also highlight some specific challenges presented as we embark on the distribution of converter boxes. 

MODIFICATION OF POS SYSTEMS

Each retailer participating in the converter box coupon program must in some 

manner adapt its core POS functionality if it elects to electronically authorize the 

government issued coupon. Retailers appreciate the steps taken by NTIA to ensure 

use of electronic coupons that authorize in a manner similar to plastic pre-paid private label cards. NTIA’s contractor, IBM, and its sub-contractor CLC have also provided options that address the requirements of the automated systems used by larger retailers, as well as systems solutions to accommodate smaller retailers. Still, 

even with the flexibility provided, each retailer has its own unique POS systems and 

implementing the ability to process government issued coupons has presented each 

retailer with its own challenges. The cost of changing POS systems to support NTIA 

requirements in this manner is being incurred by each retailer - the government has 

not provided funding for any part of this process. In addition, CERC members are 

proud that several of us were able to initiate project work on these system changes 

during the 4th quarter of the year, our busiest sales period. Prior to roll-out of the 

systems later this month, a number of participating retailers are currently participating in NTIA’s pilot programs in Kansas and D.C. 

126 

DISTRIBUTION AND MAINTENANCE OF CONVERTER BOX INVENTORY

The creation of a hard date for the DTV transition has provided certainty for retailers as to when they needed to be ready to offer consumers any necessary equipment. However, even with the hard date, some uncertainty remains as to how many 

households will need or want a converter box and at what point those households 

will request and redeem the coupons. Indeed, no one anticipated that requests for 

coupons would exceed 4.4 million within the first month of the program! 

In reality, we anticipate that a portion of the coupons requested will not be redeemed as some consumers decide that they do not need a converter box. For example, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), 50 percent of U.S. 

households currently have a digital television and it forecasts that another 32 million digital televisions will be sold in 2008. Many consumers making a digital television purchase may do so after they requested a coupon. We also know that many 

households will decide to connect their televisions, or any sets that weren’t connected already, to cable or satellite which will also reduce demand for converter 

boxes. There are also indications from NTIA data that many consumers who have 

applied for coupons may be cable or satellite customers, meaning that they may not 

actually need a converter box. Part of our role in educating consumers will be to 

make sure that subsidized converters are obtained by consumers who actually have 

a use for them. 

Regardless of these uncertainties, RadioShack and the other participating CERC 

members are creating distribution systems that collectively will handle the distribution of millions of converter boxes over the next 18 months. Each retailer’s plan is 

of course different and is tailored to its own business model and the customer base, 

but collectively the retail industry is confident that the demand for converter boxes 

will be met. 

With 4,400 owned and operated stores and another 1,500 dealer stores throughout 

the 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico, RadioShack will play an essential role in the 

distribution of converter boxes. To that end, we and other retailers are working 

closely with NTIA, IBM and CLC to help ensure that we have inventory in the right 

place at the right time. We are pleased that NTIA is working with retailers to provide us timely information regarding where consumer demand for coupons exists. 

We encourage NTIA to provide this information in as granular detail as possible 

and with the rates of returns for these same areas once the coupons are distributed. 

This information is critical in helping ensure all retailers are able to use their distribution systems to target inventory where it is needed. As the only major consumer electronics retailer with thousands of both its own stores and dealer stores, 

this is perhaps uniquely challenging for RadioShack. Despite the challenge, we are 

committed to having each of our stores prepared to respond to consumer interest. 

Under the regulations and our existing contractual arrangements, our dealer stores 

must each seek their own certification from NTIA for participation. However, 

RadioShack understands the importance of having these stores, most of which are 

small businesses in rural settings, involved in the transition. Therefore, in addition 

to preparing our own stores, we have worked closely with NTIA to promote dealer 

participation and to educate dealers about the program and the digital transition 

generally. 

With the initial demand of 4.4 million coupons, I am sure the Subcommittee is 

interested in knowing whether retailers will be prepared over the next few months 

to respond to this initial demand. We believe that through the combined efforts of 

all participating retailers and with full cooperation from NTIA and CLC, the answer 

will be yes. As I mentioned, RadioShack intends to have stock in all of its stores 

by February 22. With 4,400 stores, we cannot guarantee that each store will have 

stock at all times due to the ebb and flow of customer demand. However, in the 

event that a RadioShack-owned store’s inventory is temporarily depleted, our sales 

associates are being trained to offer to order the product for the customer from stock 

located in our Fort Worth Distribution Center. The converter box will then be 

shipped to the customer’s home at no additional charge through our Direct-to-You 

(D2U) program. This D2U program will be available for coupon-eligible converter 

box purchases in all of our stores beginning February 19th and RadioShack plans 

to hold some stock in our Fort Worth Distribution Center for the length of the program for D2U purposes. Other retailers will also provide solutions when store locations are out of stock or for those coupon-holders who are infirm or otherwise unable 

to come to a store. For example, retailers, like EchoStar here with us today, will 

be able to offer the converter boxes for sale online. Other retailers will have 1-800 

numbers to respond to these requests. 

127 

ISSUES AFFECTING PRICE OF THE CONVERTER BOX

I know that this Subcommittee is hopeful that the consumer’s contribution to the 

purchase of the converter box will be as low as possible. RadioShack understands 

this concern and recognizes the need for an affordable solution to all consumers. I 

would like to spend a few minutes addressing issues affecting the price of the converter box to the consumer. This is an area in which, of course, each retailer has 

worked through its own issues and considerations. My comments here reflect 

RadioShack’s experience regarding price considerations. 

Although the coupon-eligible converter box has simple features and its sole function is to convert a digital television signal to analog format, keeping the price low 

still presents challenges. First, as mentioned above, the level of demand is unclear 

so that it is difficult to take full advantage of quantity-dependent pricing from manufacturers. Second, its shelf life - 18 months - is uniquely short. For these reasons, 

manufacturers are not able to amortize the upfront price of production over a long 

period of time. Normally, the price of a consumer electronics product would drop 

steadily over its market life of potentially several years; the coupon-eligible converter box product will not benefit from this effect. 

In addition, any single technology rich consumer electronics product may be covered by literally hundreds or even thousands of patents, and the converter box is 

no different. Whether it is the manufacturer or retailer who actually pays the patent 

license royalties for such essential patents, this dynamic may also add cost to the 

box. 

Each retailer (and manufacturer) also has had to make difficult choices about 

which permissible optional features, if any, to include in the box. The added cost 

that results must be balanced against the likelihood that such features will be required by a broad number of consumers. For example, manufacturers and retailers 

each confront this issue with regard to the inclusion of signal pass-through technology which would benefit those households who receive low-power television signals or wish to receive analog signals across international borders. NTIA made an 

appropriate decision to permit the signal pass-through feature as an optional, but 

not mandated feature. A reason for this decision related to concerns over the loss 

of signal strength in the converter box that might occur and affect the reception of 

the digital signal. Based on this and other information RadioShack had when making our initial orders, we prioritized the cost, quality and features that the vast majority of our customers would need and did not include the pass-through feature in 

those orders. 

Given manufacturing and distribution lead times, we believe that any decision at 

this late date to mandate such a requirement would jeopardize the coupon program 

and is unnecessary. There will be solutions to this problem in the marketplace. 

There are currently three approved converter boxes that include the pass through 

technology, including EchoStar’s. While the products that RadioShack plans to sell 

at this time do not include pass-through technology, we are exploring solutions for 

LPTV viewers. At a minimum, RadioShack and others intend to offer LPTV consumers a discount on the external devices (such as an A/B switch and splitter) necessary to provide an external pass-through to connect their converter box and television. As one of the largest national retailers and manufacturer of antennas, we 

will also carry a variety of outdoor antennas. And, of course, the viewer could also 

purchase a dual tuner television if this makes economic sense. 

In its role as a retailer, RadioShack intends to help its LPTV customers with the 

transition and we will explore all possible solutions. However, it is critical that the 

Community Broadcasters educate their LPTV viewers on the problem and inform 

them of their options. In addition, RadioShack encourages the Community Broadcasters to provide retailers with specific information about the number of households affected and their locations. Such information will be particularly helpful in 

ensuring the delivery of appropriate solutions to the degree they are needed. 

Before leaving the issue of cost, I would like to raise an issue that only recently 

came to retailers’ attention, but that has a significant effect on the price of the box. 

In December 2007 as orders were being placed for converter boxes, retailers learned 

that U.S. Customs has imposed a five percent import tax on converter boxes. Retailers fear that this duty on a product that the government has subsidized through 

the coupon program for the purposes of helping U.S. households will serve to impede 

distribution and may needlessly burden consumers. We hope that this Committee 

will join us in seeking a legislative waiver of this import duty, as surely the Congress could not have intended this result. 

128 

CONSUMER EDUCATION

Perhaps most important to the success of the transition is the role that the private sector is playing to educate consumers about the digital transition. CERC applauds the efforts of NAB, NCTA, CEA, the consumer groups and our government 

partners for their efforts to alert consumers. We know that these efforts are working. CEA just announced last week that consumer awareness of the transition to 

digital television grew 80 percent since 2006. 

But, we recognize that retailers have perhaps the most direct private sector role 

in consumer education. We are the end game - we are the place where consumers 

will go to ask questions to learn more about the transition and its effect on their 

household. Like each of the private sector industries involved, retailers are investing 

significant funds to communicate information about the transition through print 

and other media. However, retailers are also making significant investments in 

human capital - training hundreds of thousands of sales people to assist consumers. 

For a transition that is short term and product that is not relevant to everyone in 

the same manner, this is a challenging task. Let me provide some perspective on 

what RadioShack and other CERC members are doing regarding our media communications efforts and our sales associates’ training. 

Consumer Education through Advertising, the Internet and Signage 

RadioShack, and other CERC members, are implementing detailed public education plans to notify consumers of the digital transition generally and to inform 

them of the possible need to purchase a converter box. RadioShack’s plan includes 

the following activities during just the first quarter of this year: 

• We are updating RadioShack’s website by February 17th to include dedicated 

space at www.radioshack.com/dtv to explain the transition, the coupon program and 

to answer frequently asked questions (including information for LPTV viewers). It 

will also include links to the relevant government websites and CERC/CEA/FCC’s 

DTV tip sheet. This site highlights the information we have provided on 

RadioShack.com for many months already. 

• We are including notifications about both the transition and the coupon program 

in tens of millions RadioShack’s direct mail flyers and newspaper inserts throughout 

the year. 

• By February 19th, all stores will print notifications on every receipt printed in 

a RadioShack store on any purchase alerting customers about the digital transition, 

the availability of converter boxes at RadioShack and both websites 

www.radioshack.com/dtv and www.dtv2009.gov. 

• We are placing window signage in each store in March announcing the availability of coupon eligible converter boxes once stock is in place. There will be window signs on the transition, at times, throughout the program. We will also have 

bilingual educational brochures in our stores. 

•The packaging on most of our converter boxes will indicate that they are coupon 

eligible; and, 

• We will be placing advertising in national print media to notify consumers, as 

well as radio advertising on both English and Spanish language stations. 

• We will use various public relations tactics to ensure the conversion is effectively 

communicated to news media and customers alike. This includes the use of audio 

and video podcasts, news releases and staged store events throughout the year announcing news and milestones relating to our participation in the transition process. 

RadioShack is also the focal point for many local market media outlets looking to 

explain technical issues to their viewers and readers, and the digital transition process is a perfect example. We will continue to actively promote and facilitate news 

media requests to visit local stores and interview our knowledgeable sales staff. 

Similar efforts by several other CERC members have been outlined in recent filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In addition, CERC has 

updated its Consumer Guide on its website and the Converter Box Coupon Program’s site includes a prominent link to CERC’s site as well. 

Training of Sales Associates 

RadioShack and all CERC members recognize the critical importance of having 

trained sales associates who can answer specific questions regarding the digital 

transition and the coupon program. While media efforts will call consumers to action, our sales associates may be the only face-to-face opportunity that a consumer 

will have to ask specific questions and to solve their particular needs relating to the 

transition. Training our sales associates on the specifics of the transition and the 

129 

converter box program is a Herculean task. Each retailer is making significant efforts to accomplish this task effectively - these efforts are underway at RadioShack 

and will continue throughout the next 12-18 months. 

RadioShack headquarters trains and communicates with its store managers and 

employees through several different means. Let me provide you some specifics. 

First, RadioShack provides online training for all employees on many different product lines and technologies. We have a number of training sites dedicated to the digital transition, digital television products, and the coupon eligible converter box. At 

the end of the online training course for the converter box, our employees are required to take a test. We monitor the test completion rate for each store and each 

store employee must pass with a 90 percent or higher in order to be considered a 

completion. Second, in addition to our online training program, RadioShack conducts 

RadioShack TV broadcasts with its store managers and sales associates. We have 

already completed a number of segments on the transition and coupon program with 

our store managers and have additional segments scheduled for both store managers and sales associates to coincide with the appearance of coupons in the marketplace. 

Third, RadioShack distributes articles on issues of importance directly to its 

stores on a daily and/or weekly basis. This includes our daily store bulletin, 

RadioShack Today, as well as our store intranet site that stores use daily to access 

news, information and required tasks. Again, we have already provided significant 

information to our stores through these communications channels and will continue 

to do so throughout the transition. 

All of these forms of communication emphasize to the store managers and sales 

associates the complexities of the transition and the coupon program. We emphasize 

to our employees the need to ask customers the right questions in order to make 

sure the consumer makes the best purchase decision for their particular television 

viewing needs. I would also like to mention that RadioShack also provides all of its 

training and educational materials to its dealer stores. Each dealer then makes its 

own determination as to how they are used. 

As we embark on the introduction of coupons and converter box sales, we want 

the Committee to understand the extraordinary level of the retailers’ undertaking. 

RadioShack alone has 4,400 stores and more than 30,000 retail employees and support staff who must be trained. This is in addition to our independent dealer base 

with thousands of their own employees who they must separately train as well. In 

addition, no retailers’ employee base is static. This means that RadioShack and 

other retailers must have a continuous loop of training for all new employees 

throughout the coupon program period and provide refresher courses for current employees. RadioShack is confident that we have the necessary systems in place. We 

will monitor our efforts, and continue to proactively educate our retail employee 

base. 

CONCLUSION: 

For several years, RadioShack has committed significant energy to the digital 

transition. This year and into next, RadioShack’s commitment will remain strong 

and we look forward to playing our part in the effort to make the transition as 

smooth as possible for all consumers. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify 

and I look forward to answering your questions. 

130 

131 

132 

133 

134 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Harris. And our final witness is 

Mark Jackson, who is the President of EchoStar Technologies Corporation. We welcome you, sir. 

STATEMENT OF MARK JACKSON, PRESIDENT, ECHOSTAR 

TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, ENGLEWOOD, CO 

Mr. JACKSON. Thank you, Chairman Markey and Mr. Stearns. As 

you mentioned, I am the President of EchoStar Technology Corporation, a company that designs and markets what we believe are 

the best set top boxes and video equipment in the world. On behalf 

of EchoStar and our sister company, DISH Network, thanks for inviting me to discuss the digital television transition, and in particular our low-cost digital-to-analog converter box. EchoStar and 

DISH Network are committed to doing our part to make next year’s 

digital transition a big success. DISH Network, as many others 

here, has an ongoing education campaign aimed at current subscribers to explain what the digital transition will mean to them. 

Among our many initiatives, we have aired public service announcements to DISH Network’s roughly 14 million subscribers as 

part of that awareness campaign, so they can try to get the word 

out to their friends and neighbors and family who may not have 

digital equipment. 

On the equipment side of the business, EchoStar Technologies 

has developed the lowest priced coupon eligible converter box, the 

TR-40. We think that making the TR-40 available to the public will 

have a very positive impact on the digital transition. Earlier this 

year, to get the word out, we made an announcement at the consumer electronics show that we would make our basic converter 

box available to consumers for about $39.99. That is one penny less 

than the $40 Congress authorized for each converter box coupon. 

In other words, not counting sales tax a consumer who obtains a 

government—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Did you say your box is $39.99? 

Mr. JACKSON. $39.99 retail price. 

Mr. MARKEY. And you get a $40 coupon? 

Mr. JACKSON. So it is a penny less. 

Mr. MARKEY. I would go to EchoStar Technologies Corporation if 

I could to be honest with you. 

Mr. JACKSON. We hope that a lot of people decide to do that. 

Mr. MARKEY. I am sorry, but that sounds like that is the right 

price. 

Mr. JACKSON. So Congress made it clear its intent not to leave 

anyone behind when broadcasters go digital in February, 2009, especially families of lesser means who rely on free, over the air TV 

for their news and information. By providing a digital-analog converter box at no cost to the consumer fundamentally, EchoStar is 

doing its part to bring this policy goal to fruition. Our announcement has generated a lot of excitement in the government and consumer communities, along with many questions. I will address one 

of the major questions now, and, of course, will answer any additional questions you may have after the opening statements. 

We have been asked, how is EchoStar able to offer a device at 

such a low price point and still make a good business out of it? 

Well, first of all, we specialize in low cost equipment. As mass proVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:13 Apr 06, 2010 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00142 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-88 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
135 

ducers of set top boxes with over 65 million EchoStar boxes sold 

worldwide, we bring economies of scale to this project. We can draw 

on our volume-based deals with suppliers and order the product at 

the lowest possible cost. We also know something about how to 

build converter boxes for the digital transition, as our British division has gone through this process in the U.K. This group has 

helped us come up with many useful feature, like the pass through 

of analog signals from broadcasters who might not yet have gone 

digital. 

Second, we are willing to subsidize the cost of the box where necessary to drive brand awareness for our core DISH business. Many 

of these boxes will be used in households that do not subscribe to 

DISH Network today. If people have a good experience with our 

box, they are more likely to think of us when they want to become 

a satellite TV subscriber. Finally, with the split of EchoStar into 

two separately traded public companies, the company I head, 

EchoStar Technologies, will not just sell DISH Network but to any 

and all companies and consumers who would like to get out technology and products. Therefore, we have a big incentive to get our 

brand name into as many households as possible. So these attributes, a devotion to low cost products, a pay TV service, and a 

technology company working in tandem make us very unique in 

the marketplace for converter boxes and allow us to offer the low 

cost product that you see today. 

We know that the Federal government is working on educating 

the public on the digital transition, and we are participating in this 

effort with respect to DISH subscribers, as I mentioned earlier. But 

when it comes to the population at large, I think we can all agree 

that nothing gets the word out in America like a company with 

something to sell, and we intend to use our marketing expertise to 

get the word out about our TR-40. Finally, I want to make the subcommittee aware that we have notified the NTIA of our intent to 

submit other converter boxes for approval. For example, we have 

devised means of lowering the cost even further so we are hopeful 

that the NTIA and the FCC will test the devices and approve them 

quickly as there is no time to lose. So in closing I look forward to 

your questions and thanks for your time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Jackson follows:] 

STATEMENT OF MARK JACKSON

SUMMARY

• EchoStar is committed to a successful digital transition. 

• EchoStar’s digital-to-analog converter box (TR-40) is priced at $39.99, once cent 

less than the $40 coupon value, and is the lowest-cost converter box on the market. 

• EchoStar specializes in low-cost video equipment and leverages its vendor relationships and expertise to reduce the cost of the TR-40. 

•The TR-40 contains analog pass-through, allowing reception of stations that have 

not yet gone digital-a feature we included based on our experience with the digital 

transition in the U.K. 

• EchoStar sees the digital converter box initiative as an opportunity to build our 

brand and perhaps add new customers; we are willing to subsidize the cost of converters if necessary. 

• We will be submitting improved, lower-cost converter models to NTIA soon and 

are hopeful for a rapid approval. 

136 

TESTIMONY

Chairman Markey and members of the Subcommittee, my name is Mark Jackson 

and I am the President of EchoStar Technologies Corporation, a company that designs and markets what we believe are the highest quality, best value digital set 

top boxes and video equipment in the world. On behalf of EchoStar Technologies 

and our sister company, DISH Network, thank you for inviting me to discuss the 

digital television transition, and in particular our low-cost digital-to-analog converter box. 

EchoStar and DISH Network are committed to doing our part to make next year’s 

digital transition a success. 

DISH Network has an ongoing education campaign aimed at current subscribers 

to explain what the digital transition will mean to them. Among our many initiatives, we have aired public service announcements to DISH Network’s roughly 14 

million subscribers as part of that awareness campaign. 

On the equipment side of the business, EchoStar Technologies has developed the 

lowest-priced coupon eligible converter box, the TR-40. We think that making the 

TR-40 available to the public will have a very positive impact on the digital transition. 

Earlier this year, at the Consumer Electronics Show, EchoStar announced that it 

would make our basic converter box available to consumers for $39.99. That’s one 

penny less than the $40 Congress authorized for each converter box coupon. 

In other words, not counting sales taxes, a consumer who obtains a government 

coupon will be able to get a converter box free of charge. 

Congress made clear its intent to not leave anyone behind when broadcasters go 

digital on February 19, 2009, especially families of lesser means who rely on free, 

over-the-air TV for their news and information. By providing digital-to-analog converter boxes at no cost to the consumer, EchoStar is doing its part to bring that 

policy goal to fruition. 

Our announcement has generated a lot of excitement in the government and consumer communities, along with many questions. I will address one of the major 

questions now and, of course, will answer any additional questions you might have 

after opening statements. 

We have been asked, how is EchoStar able to offer a device at such a low price 

point and still make a good business out of it? 

First, we specialize in low-cost equipment. 

As mass producers of set-top boxes, with over 65 million EchoStar boxes sold 

worldwide, we bring economies of scale to this project. We can draw on our volumebased deals with suppliers in order to produce a low-cost converter box. 

We also know something about how to build converters for a digital transition, 

as our British division is going through this process in the U.K. Those employees 

helped us come up with useful features, like the pass-through of analog signals from 

broadcasters who might not yet have gone digital. 

Second, we are willing to subsidize the cost of the box where necessary to drive 

brand awareness for our core businesses. 

Many of these boxes will be used in households that do not subscribe to DISH 

Network today. If people have a good experience with our box, they are more likely 

to think of us if and when they want to become satellite TV subscribers. 

Finally, with the recent split of EchoStar into two separately traded public companies, the company I head—EchoStar Technologies Corporation—will sell not just to 

DISH Network but to any and all companies and consumers. Therefore, we have an 

incentive to get our brand name into as many households as possible. 

These attributes—a devotion to low-cost products, a pay-TV and a technology company working in tandem—make us unique in the marketplace for converter boxes 

and allow us to offer the low-cost product you see before you today. 

We know that the federal government is working on educating the public on the 

digital transition. We are participating in that effort with respect to DISH subscribers, as I mentioned earlier. 

But when it comes to the population at large, I think we can all agree that nothing gets the word out in America like a company with something to sell. And we 

intend to use our marketing expertise to get the word out about the TR-40. 

Finally, I want to make the Subcommittee aware that we have notified NTIA of 

our intent to submit other converter boxes for approval. For example, we have devised a means of lowering the cost even further by separating out the power components. We are hopeful that NTIA and the FCC will test the devices and approve 

them quickly. There is no time to lose. 

I look forward to your questions. 

137 

Thank you. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. The chair will 

recognize himself for a round of questions. So you are saying, Mr. 

Jackson, that you might even have one below $39.99? 

Mr. JACKSON. We are working very hard on getting one below $39.99. 

Mr. MARKEY. That would be so great, and I can see you actually 

on TV like it was a vegematic or something, you know, selling it 

to people. If someone could come up with like the vegematic version 

of why you need to switch over and why you need a converter box, 

I think we wouldn’t have a problem at all. I haven’t seen those 

types of ads yet but I imagine if you get make a buck doing it that 

ad will be made. That will be the break through moment. I am 

going to go to you, Mr. Murray. You seem a little bit pessimistic 

about where we are right now just to be honest with you. You had 

a fairly high percentage of people who have misconceptions and 

confusion about what the digital revolution means for them and 

their television sets and whether or not—— 

Mr. MURRAY. Mr. Chairman, it is my job to be a pessimist. 

Mr. MARKEY. And you are very good at it. And I want to say of 

all the witnesses you capture our attention because obviously our 

names are on the ballot and so pessimism is something we have 

to identify early so it is not manifested in another kind of a box, 

a secret ballot box, that no one knows how anyone voted. So my 

question to you is Chairman Martin said he had a $20 million fund 

for public education. If you were going to spend it, Mr. Murray, 

where would you spend that $20 million in order to insure that the 

most vulnerable population was given the information they need to 

avoid a catastrophic February 17, 2009. 

Mr. MURRAY. Well, sir, we have got pretty good demographic information from Nielsen about who is affected here. It does seem to 

be disproportionately elderly, disproportionately Latino, and so that 

is a good place to start is find those communities, find a way to 

reach nursing homes with some scale, find a way to help people 

with a sort of geek squad kind of outfit that can actually—I think 

part of the problem here is people may be aware of it, they may 

even know where to go get their boxes but they get home, they get 

that box in their hands, they start messing around with their television set, and they are a little bit clueless about how to put the 

thing together. So I think part of it would go into materials to actually effectively educate people about, OK, you got a box in your 

hands, how do you actually hook it up. 

But I think really localized action plans tailored to the demographic information that we have from the excellent people at 

Nielsen is a good place to start. And as to whether or not I am 

overly pessimistic, I would be happy to take wagers for anyone who 

wants to bet on how this is going to go February 17. 

Mr. MARKEY. And you would be betting on? 

Mr. MURRAY. I am going to bet on there is going to be enough 

displaced consumers to light up the switchboard on both the House 

and Senate side. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. That is important testimony to hear. Let me ask you, Mr. Romeo, there is a 

138 

letter that Mr. Dingell and I and other members of the subcommittee sent to the NTIA asking that consumers could reapply 

after 90 days for a coupon, and my question to you is, is there a 

technical reason why that wouldn’t be possible, and for IBM to insure that people who do reapply in fact can receive the coupon and 

as a result of the converter box they would need in order for their 

TV set to work? 

Mr. ROMEO. There is no technical reason that we couldn’t implement the policy change if that were decided. 

Mr. MARKEY. OK. That is great because the NTIA agrees that 

there is no technical problem so I think we should begin to work 

towards dealing with that issue. I just heard from Mr. Murray, so 

why don’t I give all the rest of you an opportunity. We will begin 

with you, Mr. Jackson, over here. What do you lie awake at night 

worrying about that could go wrong on February 17, 2009? What 

is the nightmare scenario from your perspective? 

Mr. JACKSON. Well, I found with great interest on session one a 

lot of the members’ concerns that they have. I think they are wellfounded. I think we share Mr. Murray’s concern that there are a 

lot of issues that we have to work through. The biggest thing I 

would recommend for the government to implement is that perhaps 

a test nationwide is warranted 4 months before the program comes 

out like I would ask the broadcasters to go digital from one day or 

a few hours. I think that would generate a lot of awareness of what 

is going to happen, and that would be my biggest recommendation 

for you. I think some of the members’ concerns about antennas not 

working are well founded, so much so I think you will see us at 

EchoStar set up a service that consumers could pay for and we will 

go out and set them up because we will have a lot of issues there. 

So I think those are our two biggest concerns but I think the test 

and get the awareness out will make consumers go to the retail 

stores. I think it will make the broadcasters be prepared. I think 

it would force a lot of people to wake up. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Mr. Harris. 

Mr. HARRIS. Our concerns when you are really dedicated to customer service is what level the customer understands what they 

need, and that is the role that RadioShack fills, but we don’t know 

when you ask a customer a question are you watching low power, 

they won’t know so we would ask the community broadcasters to 

inform their viewing public that they are watching low power because that is one of our concerns. The other concern that I think 

we have covered is spikes in demand. No one expected 4 million 

coupons so we moved up a lot of orders. Also, when the program 

ends as far as merchants and retailers, we are concerned about inventory residue because we want to have the inventory covered as 

it is needed but after the program ceased how much more demand 

is there. 

We at RadioShack always carry legacy products so we will have 

the product quite a bit after the coupons end but we are just worried about residue inventory as well because that is substantial. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Romeo, what is your greatest fear? 

Mr. ROMEO. As someone who cares about the program’s success 

obviously not leaving people outside the sphere of educating them 

so that they know that they need to act is a major concern for me. 

139 

From a technical and parochial view having 20 million orders on 

February 16, 2009, would be a concern that it all comes late. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Murray, do you think you have already expressed your deepest pessimistic fears for that day or do you have 

additions that you would like to make to the list? 

Mr. MURRAY. I do think I have fully expressed myself, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. I appreciate it. Mr. Rehr, how about 

you at the broadcasters, what is your nightmare scenario? 

Mr. REHR. I scribbled down 5. Number 1, if our program works 

the way we envision it, we could run out of coupons and we will 

need to come back to Congress and the FCC and the NTIA for additional funds. Number 2, that senior citizens who are difficult to 

reach, we somehow won’t be able to touch them and we will miss 

some of them. Number 3, we will have some isolated antenna 

issues although we will be announcing soon a partnership with the 

Consumer Electronics Association to insure that people understand 

the antennas that they will need to make the digital transition successful, and we want to applaud CEA for all their great work on 

that end. 

Number 4, technical issues, snow, heavy rain, sleet, fog, maybe 

a lack of engineers to do the final conversions the day before. And 

then number 5—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Does that go over to Mr. Jackson’s recommendation 

that we have like a 1-day trial 4 months in advance just so everyone can experience in some form what might happen 4 months 

later permanently? 

Mr. REHR. Well, we actually have a thousand plus stations that 

are running analog and digital systems today. These are stations 

that are going to just make the switch over, and I am not quite 

sure how many they are that has to do with channel selection and 

getting to a different channel, but if we can minimize those 

through the FCC allocation of channels that would be good. And 

then finally number 5, since my cell phone is on all my business 

cards, I personally worry that I will be held responsible by you and 

every other member of the committee. I am just kidding. 

Mr. MARKEY. No, you are actually dead on that. That is a given. 

Bipartisanship at its best. 

Mr. REHR. That is right. We at the NAB take this extremely seriously and I take this extremely personal. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. McSlarrow. 

Mr. MCSLARROW. Well, I have now decided to put David’s cell 

phone on my card so I have taken care of my biggest problem. I 

think it is the same thing that we have been talking about before. 

I worry that despite great efforts across the board that the most 

sophisticated, wide ranging consumer education campaign in the 

world is still going to miss people, and it just is. And obviously we 

need to narrow that pool to the smallest possible pool we can but 

there is going to be some disruption. 

And the second point that has been made earlier even if—and I 

think we are well on our way to get the coupon program to get the 

boxes out there, even if all that works seamlessly we are basically 

talking about a universe of people who either don’t or chose not to 

have boxes in their home, and this is a new thing and hooking 

140 

them up, and someone mentioned the geek squad, but somehow 

there is that last little step to actually making the box work that 

I am not sure we are completely on top of and we will have to 

think through. 

Mr. MARKEY. Would you recommend for February 17 that like on 

election day we all have these get out the vote operations that 

every one of the entities that is here on quadruple alert and that 

everyone is ready to go because as you are saying, Mr. McSlarrow, 

perhaps there are inevitable problems that are going to be there 

and that we should have almost like a D day like operation ready 

to go to deal with what is left over. Do you think that is advisable? 

Mr. MCSLARROW. I do. It is a lot like a political campaign with 

the advantage you don’t actually have somebody on the other side 

pushing back. If we are all rowing in the same direction we should 

be able to do it. I think we ought to treat it with the seriousness 

with which it deserves, and I think we can do it and we are off to 

a good start, but particularly when you think through the elections 

coming up here there is going to be a 3- or 4-month period of time 

where no one is focused on the DTV transition. It is all about the 

election, and after that period to February is sort of the forced 

march. 

Mr. MARKEY. And, Mr. Bruno, your nightmare scenario? 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, our nightmare is not going 

to start on February 17 of ’09. Our nightmare will start 5 days 

from now when those coupons are passed out. I want to try to explain something as easily as I can. There are 3 types of boxes. 

There is the bad box that is digital only. When you buy that box 

and you bring it home and you plug it in, you will lose 80 percent 

of your transmission, and you will say, well, gee, I don’t get this 

channel anymore, I don’t get that channel. So you go back to the 

retailer, you turn it in, big mess. It is confusing. It is very, very 

confusing for the consumer. The other box that we have heard 

about—both of these boxes, by the way, are not compliant with the 

All Channel Receiver Act. The other box we call a user hostile box, 

and that is because—— 

Mr. MARKEY. The user—— 

Mr. BRUNO. User hostile is what we call it, and here is why. You 

take this box home with what we have been hearing all day today 

with a pass through. You plug the box in and hopefully you can get 

it right because there are a lot of wires. 

Mr. MARKEY. Which is worse, bad or user hostile? 

Mr. BRUNO. The bad box blocks out all analog. The user hostile 

box passed through analog. Both are not compliant with the All 

Channel Receiver Act. Now when you use the user hostile box and 

you plug you in, you flick through your channels and you get analog but you go to Channel 3 typically on these boxes, and then you 

get another remote that came with the box and now you have to 

flick around and try to see all your digital channels on Channel 3, 

and if you want to plug in a VCR or a DVD recorder or something 

else, I don’t think you can. I haven’t tried it yet. I am fairly technical but I don’t think you can do this. 

Now the boxes that aren’t approved, the good boxes, the user 

friendly boxes, pass analog and digital, and that is why we need 

these boxes available to the consumer. They are not that expensive. 

141 

For around $100 you can buy a user friendly box with analog and 

digital that has a DVD recorder in it, so we are not talking about 

the manufacturers—— 

Mr. MARKEY. Do you think RadioShack is going to be selling bad 

boxes and user hostile boxes? 

Mr. BRUNO. Sir, they are bad to us because we lose our viewers. 

We don’t have cable carriage rights for the most part, and we have 

heard today that Nielsen says there is 11 percent of the population 

that watches over the air signals. Every time one of these non-compliant boxes are being sold, and remember 37 of them have been 

approved and only 4 have the user hostile analog pass through. 

Every time one of these boxes are plugged in, we lose a viewer. We 

are out of business over this program, 7,212 television stations. Mr. 

Chairman, we need help. 

Mr. MARKEY. Help is on the way. So my time has expired, and 

I will recognize the ranking member for as much time as he may 

consume. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Bruno, I understand what you are saying but I think let me just ask Mr. Harris 

and Mr. Jackson, don’t viewers using over the air antennas have 

several options regarding how to continue watching analog low 

power stations, and do you think manufacturers and retailers will 

simply respond to the demands that they were talking about? 

Mr. JACKSON. Well, we have a couple of conflicts here. First of 

all, one of the things that is talked about is that we don’t have the 

feature that we would like. Just so you understand, the rules to be 

coupon eligible prohibit us from having that functionality. If we 

added that functionality it would not pass the FCC’s testing to 

make us coupon eligible. So the other thing is that in the user hostile method, we will call it, we try to make it as easy as possible 

for consumers to be able to look at these low power stations, you 

basically just turn off the box and the signal gets passed through. 

You pick up your TV remote. You would have to do that, and channel up or down to get those channels, but we have tried to make 

it so that they can’t be able to participate and not get left behind. 

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Harris, anything you want to add? 

Mr. HARRIS. Yeah, I agree with Mr. Jackson, and the note that 

even if a box does not have a pass through it is a pretty simple 

device of just using a splitter and a coaxial cable to split the signal 

before it gets to the box. We have on our web site several diagrams 

that are really consumer friendly plus some very good tools that 

are on their web site as well as retailers web sites to explain how 

to do this. So besides a pass through it is a simple splitter and if 

someone doesn’t have the proper hookups in the box—— 

Mr. STEARNS. What is a splitter? What is a simple splitter? 

Mr. HARRIS. A simple splitter—in fact, I think we have one here. 

We happen to have a sample here. 

Mr. REHR. I am sorry. This is a whole kit that we had—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Well, that is more than a splitter though. I mean 

that is a little bit more—— 

Mr. HARRIS. The splitter is just right here. 

Mr. STEARNS. And we all go to RadioShack to buy the splitter. 

We understand that. 

142 

Mr. HARRIS. So it is a splitter that splits the signal before it gets 

to the box and lets it really pass through the box so it is like a pass 

through but it is a simple about that big. It is all you need. Now 

if a customer doesn’t have a box that has composite inputs and RF, 

if their TV is over 15 years old, they may not have both inputs so 

if they don’t have that they can use a splitter, the coax, and a B 

switch. It is still a very low price situation, pretty easy to install. 

We intend to explain it as other retailers can. 

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Murray indicates there are going to be lots of 

people that will not be able to follow these directions but isn’t it 

simply if you are not dealing with low power you are just putting 

together your box on your analog TV. Isn’t it pretty much like you 

just hook one end of the box up to the antenna and the other up 

to the television? 

Mr. HARRIS. Yeah, a very simple hook up. 

Mr. STEARNS. It is just like hooking a toaster up. 

Mr. HARRIS. It is very simple. 

Mr. STEARNS. So Mr. Murray has created this impression that 

when they get this box it is going to be very difficult for them to 

figure out how to do that. I assume most people understand that. 

You just put the box between the antenna and the television. It is 

that simple. 

Mr. HARRIS. It is very simple. 

Mr. STEARNS. That is pretty much simple. 

Mr. HARRIS. Yes, it is. 

Mr. STEARNS. Let me ask a quick question. We have heard, and 

I think Chairman Markey has made a good point in asking what 

the down side, what is your biggest fear, so to speak, but I guess 

the question is, I will ask all of you, do you have all the incentives 

that we provided to you and all the resources to take care of those 

problems you mentioned, and I will just start to my right down. 

Just yes or no, and if you don’t have them just very briefly say 

what you want. 

Mr. JACKSON. I don’t know what we are missing. I think we are 

going to see things that we just don’t anticipate when it comes—— 

Mr. STEARNS. But right now you say you have the resources and 

the incentives to do it? 

Mr. JACKSON. Under the plan that is there, we can get the job 

done. 

Mr. STEARNS. OK. Mr. Harris. 

Mr. HARRIS. Yes, I would have to concur with that. Also, I will 

have to say that the NTIA, IBM, and CLC have been extremely accessible and available even on an hour notice to us. We have been 

very happy with that. Also, it wasn’t mentioned before, NTIA put 

out a very good welcome dealer kit that is extremely strong. It has 

video and has brochures, so I have all the tools that we need to 

make this successful. 

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Romeo. 

Mr. ROMEO. Yes, I believe we have everything we need to implement the program successfully. 

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Murray, you hear all these people saying they 

have all the incentives and resources so what do you think? Do you 

think there is—— 

143 

Mr. MURRAY. Well, at Consumer Reports we have actually spent 

a lot of time trying to figure out how can we provide real information, not just at the high level but how can you actually get into 

the back of your television set and hook this stuff up for most consumers. And I will tell you it is difficult to do. 

Mr. STEARNS. I don’t think it is that complicated. You don’t have 

to get into the back of the TV. 

Mr. MURRAY. Sir, that is why you are a member of Congress 

and—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Even my son knows how to hook up a cable to the 

television, and he knows how to just screw it on. 

Mr. MURRAY. Right, but I mean if you look at how many millions 

of consumers in the United States VCRs are still flashing 12:00. 

Mine is. I don’t know about yours. 

Mr. STEARNS. Yeah, but I am capable of stopping it. I am just 

not interested in stopping it. 

Mr. MURRAY. So the materials that we have tried to produce, we 

have got some good things on line at hearusnow.org. Consumer Reports is doing more materials but it is really difficult to do this in 

a drill down fashion that actually tells people here is how you are 

going to meet the complications of your individual television set, 

and I understand it seems like it is just this wire to that wire, but 

for a lot of people who aren’t accustomed to this wire to that wire 

it is a little more drama than this. And they didn’t ask for it. That 

is the problem. 

Mr. STEARNS. You keep saying this is sort of a government mandate and no one asked for it, and you say it is a bus coming down 

the road and they are getting ready to see it and they don’t know 

what to do. I think that is a pretty dramatic draconian example of 

what we have. I mean this is like your son saying I don’t want to 

go to high school, it is a mandate, Dad. And I say, well, if you go 

to high school you are going to make a lot more money, you will 

be able to go to college and all the benefits. And if we sat here 

without this February 17, ’09 the benefits would not occur, not just 

dealing with third generation and first responders. Under the old 

law broadcasters are required to convert to digital under this formula, and it turns out that there are 50 markets that would not 

actually be able to conform and ultimately would not be able to 

move ever in this position. 

So to use it as a mandate it is really like my son who said why 

do I have to go to high school and if you go to high school because 

then you get more money and a satisfying life, and I say to the constituents this is not a mandate, this is an opportunity to get and 

auction off more of the spectrum and so much benefits, a cornucopia of benefits. 

Mr. MURRAY. But do you think those benefits were clear to consumers? I am not so sure that those benefits are clear to most consumers. I think most people, this will come down the pike at them 

and maybe they will get a better television set but most people 

know, they get TV today, they are pretty happy with it, and they 

don’t really want to have to go to the store to do anything else to 

continue to receive television tomorrow. 

Mr. STEARNS. Dr. Rehr, let me just ask you, do you have all the 

incentives and research to make this successful? 

144 

Mr. REHR. Yes, however, it would be nice if we could fully use 

the government’s resources to insure we are educating people. 

What do I mean by that? We are glad that we are putting—that 

the FCC is going to put posters up in post offices. If we are sending 

checks to senior citizens, veterans, if there is a way that we could 

do additional piece of information in there about the DTV transition so we don’t miss anybody. If we could have the President or 

the presidency’s bulley pulpit on the DTV transition, that could be 

huge in order to make sure Americans understand this. 

The one area of need I think going down the pike is perhaps having a phone center which people could call and talk to a real live 

human being about a problem either in English or Spanish. That 

is immensely costly. We at the NAB have committed tens of millions of dollars of our trade association resources towards this but 

that would be—you know, if I had a wish list that would be an additional wish list. Let me also say that unlike my colleague, I think 

when people see the crystal clear picture, the amazing audio quality, the fact that there will be multi-cast channels and more programs and more services they go wow. 

Mr. STEARNS. Yeah, I agree. Mr. McSlarrow, resources and incentives you have in place? 

Mr. MCSLARROW. I think largely yes. One exception, that is the 

FCC has before proceeding to do what this committee actually did 

which is have a small system exemption for very small operators 

to the dual carriage requirement. They need to get on with that, 

get it done, and I think what we need most now is certainty. We 

have a plan. We don’t have much time. Let us just go execute. 

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Bruno. 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes. Thank you for asking that question. I appreciate that. The NTIA has set aside $65 million for translators in 

towns less than 20,000 people. Full powers as we all know spent 

10 years on this transition. Believe it or not, class A stations and 

low power stations are a progressive group of folks. We actually 

want to transition to digital but we find ourselves being squeezed 

by this time line so what we need for the class A and the low power 

industry, we need the NTIA to be provided with additional funds 

so we can quickly build out our digital signals. 

Mr. STEARNS. $65 million is not a help, enough help? 

Mr. BRUNO. It doesn’t go to us, sir. It is for the translators with 

less than 20,000 people in their coverage area. 

Mr. STEARNS. But isn’t it true that we exempted low power from 

the transition originally because you folks requested it? 

Mr. BRUNO. No, I don’t recall that, sir. No. 

Mr. STEARNS. OK. OK. I would just conclude, Mr. Chairman, and 

say all of us went through the Y2K discussion in which we were 

worried, immensely worried, about everything possibly happening, 

and some of this discussion was very helpful. We did have a presidential task force for that. You folks are the presidential task force. 

And we think based upon the incentives and the resources that are 

available we should be successful. And I am optimistic and I think 

the benefits to the consumer are so immense that members of Congress and others have to explain that to them so that they realize 

it takes a little effort to get good things in life. You can’t get them 

145 

for free and you have to learn to be able to hook up your box from 

Echo and save a penny and do it. So I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman, and I will recognize myself 

for some additional questions. I first wanted to let you each know 

that we are going to have each one of you back here on February 

17, 2009. There is a hearing that I am announcing is scheduled for 

that date, and we are going to ask you all to come back and sit 

here as we are on the transition day, and so I just want you to 

clear the—a lot of times you don’t get enough notice so I just want 

you all to know that on that day we will see quite clearly what the 

holes are in the system. 

So let me thank you. It was I think a highly illuminating hearing. I remember back years ago my old buddy, Mark Fowler, when 

he was the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission 

back in the 1980’s, he used to say that really a television is nothing 

more than a toaster with pictures. And as the public tries to figure 

out how to attach with splitters this converter box to their TV it 

will very much be like trying to attach a toaster to a TV set turning it into a toaster with pictures. And I don’t know who will be 

toast that day. That still remains to be seen, but I do know that 

the most vulnerable part of the American population are the minorities, are the senior citizens, and are poor people, and there is 

a very heavy responsibility which all of us share to insure that 

there is the minimal amount humanly possible of disruption to 

their lives that occurs on that day. 

And if there are holes that there is a program in place on that 

day that will insure that everything is rectified in a very brief period of time after February 17. But our goal is, as it is at 

RadioShack, zero defects. So we want to put in place the best plan 

that we can and execute it. Life is 20 percent concept, 80 percent 

execution. So the execution of this plan will ultimately determine 

how effective respectively all of the planning is viewed. And I just 

want to finish just by again thanking you, Mr. Harris, and 

RadioShack for removing the remaining analog inventory from 

your store shelves. 

Mr. HARRIS. You are very welcome. 

Mr. MARKEY. And I would urge all of the other retail stores 

across the country to do the same. I think it would be in the public 

interest if they did so, and we are going to be continuing to monitor 

that situation. So with the thanks of the committee this hearing is 

adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 2:30 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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