The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Table of Contents

• Introduction

Executive Branch

• Looking Forward to New Blood in Washington
• Interview with Bob Edgar

On the Hill

• The Americans With Disabilities Act, Act Two
• As Home Foreclosures Climb, Efforts to Help Troubled Homeowners Continue
• The Year in Judicial and Executive Nominations
• Advocating for Federal Leadership on Education
• Facing New Challenges with the 2010 Census
• Modernizing the Federal Poverty Measure
• Piecemeal Legislation, Raids Take Place of Immigration Overhaul
• Below the Surface
• Interview with Kathryn Kolbert

In the Courts

• Wrapping up the Supreme Court’s 2007-2008 Term

In the States

• Colorado: Battleground for More Than Just the Presidency.
• Interview with Lilly Ledbetter

Leadership Conference Activities

• Preventing a Digital TV Divide
• Examining the State of Fair Housing in the 21st Century
• Bringing Diverse Communities Together
• 32nd Annual Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award Dinner
• Interview with John Payton

Preventing a Digital TV Divide

Mark Lloyd

America is in the midst of a major transition in technology, moving away from the old technology of analog, or over-the-air, broadcasting to a new digital age.  Americans who are not prepared for this transition may lose their television service.  And those who care about inequality in our society may be soon living in a society where some of our most vulnerable communities lose access to the most relied upon source of information. 

The transition has been widely publicized this year as bringing us sharper images and better sound.  Less known to the public is that digital television (DTV) offers the potential of improved service to those with hearing or visual disabilities. It also offers translations in languages other than English, more local programming, and more efficient use of the public airwaves.

In 2005, Congress set a date—February 17, 2009—requiring all full-power television stations in the United States to stop sending their old analog signals. While some broadcasters began transmitting digital signals as early as 1996, millions of television viewers still rely on analog television sets and can not receive digital signals.  Though nearly two-thirds of Americans get television via cable or satellite, the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that roughly 21 million households need to prepare for the transition to digital TV. 

A disproportionate number of these households are people of fixed incomes, seniors, minorities, and people with disabilities.  When they are deprived of television service, they lose more than entertainment.  To lose television service is to lose the primary means by which the vast majority of Americans get information about emergency situations such as natural disasters, and information about local, state and national political issues such as education, health care, housing, economic opportunity and equal justice. 

In 2005, Congress set aside $1.5 billion toward a subsidy for a converter box that would allow analog television users to view a digital signal.  The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was authorized to operate a coupon program to distribute this subsidy and to educate consumers about the coupons program. But after a rancorous debate, Congress limited NTIA's consumer education effort to only $5 million.

The coupon program and an educational outreach effort began in 2008.  Also in 2008, a new Congress conducted several oversight hearings on the coupon program.  The $5 million is a paltry sum given the complexity of the issue, the immense audience that needs to be reached, and, notably, the amount of money other nations, such as the United Kingdom and Germany are spending on their transition to digital.  In addition to insufficient funding, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) has raised a number of issues regarding the DTV transition, including:    

• Absence of clear federal leadership and a comprehensive transition plan;
• Viewer and retailer confusion;
• TV converter box coupon program problems and complexities;
• Excessive and unanticipated costs and burdens to viewers to make the transition;
• Loss of community low power analog television service;
• Difficulties in finding and connecting the appropriate equipment (including converter boxes and antennae);
• Reports of unnecessary retailer upselling (attempts to get consumers to buy more expensive merchandise);
• Difficulties for seniors and people with disabilities in accessing captioning and any available video description on digital converter, cable, or satellite boxes, and finding converter boxes that support video description; and
• No rapid response capability to deal with problems on and after February 17, 2009.

LCCR and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) are engaged in alerting vulnerable communities to the digital television transition, and the availability of a government coupon to offset the cost of making the transition, to help ensure that all Americans continue to have equal access to important information and political discussion. 

In 2008, LCCR/EF became a founding member of the Steering Committee of the DTV Transition Coalition and worked closely with broadcasters, electronic retailers and manufacturers, government agencies, and others to coordinate a national educational effort.  LCCR/EF is also working with the American Association of People with Disabilities, the NAACP, the National Congress of American Indians, the National Council of La Raza, the National Urban League, the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center and others to reach communities most at risk for losing the vital link of television service. 

LCCR/EF established strong partnerships with national consumer groups and with public television stations to form and implement concerted local outreach and grassroots activity about the transition.  In addition LCCR/EF has testified before Congress several times in 2007 and 2008 on the state of the digital transition and has published a report on the challenges regarding the DTV transition.

Minorities, non-English speakers, senior citizens, and people with disabilities are far more likely to be confused about whether and how the DTV transition will affect them.  To make certain that the digital divide does not extend to television service, LCCR/EF recommends the following:

• Improve the organization of the transition by establishing a comprehensive federal plan as recommended by GAO in 2007;
• Provide funding for increased consumer outreach, education and research. LCCR/EF worked with APTS and others to authorize NTIA to spend additional funds on grassroots outreach, but much more is needed;
• Reduce costs and burdens of transition on viewers by funding direct assistance programs that would support home visits to deliver and install converters and antennas for those who need assistance;
• Preserve communities' access to analog low-power community broadcast stations and rural translator stations; and
• Prepare for rapid response to the inevitable challenge that many people will fall through the cracks and will lose television service after February 17, 2009. 

All Americans concerned about securing equality in access to vital information and about inequality in the opportunity to participate in the local and national discussion of all the issues that touch our lives need to press Congress to ensure that all Americans make the transition to digital television.

Mark Lloyd is the vice president for strategic initiatives at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.  His book, "Prologue to a Farce: Communication and Democracy in America," was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2007.