WASHINGTON-President George W. Bush signed into law budget deficit legislation requiring TV broadcasters to surrender analog spectrum by Feb. 18, 2009, paving the way for the redistribution of valuable frequencies to public safety and other wireless users.
The bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to begin auctioning the reclaimed spectrum not set aside for public safety by Jan. 28, 2008. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the auction of those airwaves could generate between $10 billion and $20 billion. Private estimates have reached as high as $30 billion.
Since the deficit-reduction budget bill contained many unrelated Bush administration priorities, there was little doubt that the president would sign the bill. The passage of the bill took longer than expected when a procedural move unrelated to the digital TV transition required that the bill be sent back to the House of Representatives. The House passed the bill earlier this month. In December, the Senate passed its version of the federal budget with Vice President Dick Cheney breaking the 50-50 tie. However, since it was not exactly the same bill that had passed the House earlier, and lawmakers had already left town for their winter break, the wireless industry and public safety were forced to wait to see if Congress would set a hard date for the DTV transition.
The revenue from the future auction of TV spectrum has already been earmarked for various purposes in the deficit-cutting bill including:
- $1.5 billion to help consumers pay for boxes to convert analog TV signals into DTV signals;
- $1 billion in grants to public-safety agencies for interoperable-communications systems;
- $30 million to reimburse TV stations in New York City for DTV transition-related costs compounded by the collapse of the World Trade Center;
- $75 million for low-power TV stations;
- $156 million to implement a national alert and tsunami warning system;
- $43.5 million to implement the Enhanced 911 Act of 2004;
- and $30 million in increased financial assistance for essential air service to certain communities.
“Today’s victory has been a long time coming, and is a critical win for innovation and public safety. Our nation’s high-tech companies gave their full support to this effort, and with a strong bipartisan effort, the job finally got done,” said Rhett Dawson, president of the Information Technology Industry Council. “Because the DTV transition will lead to more products, improved public safety and economic gains, the American public will see direct benefits. With the confidence and certainty of having a hard date, America’s high-tech companies will go full-steam ahead with new products and services that make use of this prime spectrum. The resulting innovation will benefit consumers and businesses, and ultimately lead to an even stronger American technology sector.”
In 1997, Congress said that broadcasters in 2007 would have to return an extra 6 megahertz of spectrum they were given to facilitate the DTV transition, but TV broadcasters could keep the spectrum if more than 15 percent of the homes in their viewing areas could not receive digital signals. The hard date eliminates this caveat. Once the spectrum is available, 24 megahertz is going to public safety and the rest to commercial uses. Some of the commercial spectrum has already been auctioned.
Since the government expects to garner revenues from selling the spectrum, the DTV bill was included as part of the 2006 budget-reconciliation process.
While it would seem that the signing of the bill would end the decades-long debate regarding broadcasters’ use of the extra DTV spectrum, a Wall Street analyst specializing in policy warned Wednesday that legislation could be introduced that would reverse the situation.
“The odds are high that, somewhere in 2008, legislation will be introduced that is designed to delay shutting off the analog transmitters,” wrote George Reed-Dellinger for Washington Analysis.
