Digital TV Proposal Could Leave Out Americans Who Need It Most
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 10/28/2005
Civil rights group are saying that a draft proposal by House Energy and Commerce Committee leadership addressing the digital television transition (DTV) falls short in ensuring that minority and low-income Americans will be able to access digital programming post-transition.In a letter sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) said that DTV legislation should "open the door for more Americans to participate fully in the digital age."
The Barton-Upton draft calls for a complete switch from analog to digital on December 31, 2008 and provides a nearly $1 billion subsidy toward the costs of a converter box that would convert digital signals to analog. After that date, all broadcasters will turn off their analog signals and transmit only digital ones.
Under the Barton-Upton draft, the nearly 21 million households who only use analog television--a group that is disproportionately minority and low income household--could request subsidy coupons redeemable for up to $80 toward the purchase of the converter box.
LCCR said the process set up by the House committee leadership proposal makes it likely that those who most need the subsidy will be least likely to get it.
Because the bill allows for online requests, those who lack computers or Internet access are more likely to miss the first-come first-served, limited number of vouchers.
According to a Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund report, Solving the Persistent Problem of the Digital Divide, blacks and Latinos, regardless of income, are less likely to have access to home computers and Internet access than white, non-Latinos.
Earlier in the month, the Senate Commerce Committee, 19-3, passed a bill that included a $3 billion subsidy and a transition date of April 7, 2009, after the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament, two popular television events.
House and Senate committee leadership will now have to sell their respective proposals, with the differences between the two chambers reconciled in conference.
