Press Release - Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Civil Rights Coalition Calls for Rapid Response Program to Usher in Digital TV Transition
Civil Rights Leaders Join Government Officials and Broadcasters to Mark 100-Day Countdown to DTV
For Immediate Release
Contact: Scott Westbrook Simpson, 202.466.2061, simpson@civilrights.org
November 10, 2008
Washington, DC – Today, civil rights advocates joined government officials and broadcast industry leaders in a press conference to discuss next steps in the remaining 100 days to the Digital Television Transition.
By law on February 17, 2009, most television stations must stop sending analog over-the-air signals. At stake in the transition to digital television is the ability of the nation’s most vulnerable populations – low-income households, minorities, seniors, and persons with disabilities – to maintain uninterrupted access to their key source of news and information and emergency warnings: free, over-the-air television.
Mark Lloyd, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, released the following statement:
“LCCR, NAB and others, including many policymakers and elected officials, have worked hard to make the transition as smooth and successful as possible. But it is time to honestly acknowledge that many Americans will turn on their analog televisions on February 18 and find themselves ‘in the dark.’
In July, the Leadership Conference released a report on the challenges of the transition. Five months after that report was released, the government still has no plan in place to rapidly assist those who, for whatever reason, wake up and discover that their over-the-air television service has vanished.
Low-income households, seniors, minorities, or persons with disabilities – those millions of Americans most likely to be adversely affected – cannot be permitted to lose their television lifelines, even for just a day or two.
It is critical that we plan now for how we rapidly respond to the inevitable problems that will come. This is why we are recommending to the new Obama administration that DTV rapid response be among its highest priorities. LCCR will do our part to help consumers, but we and the DTV coalition cannot do it without additional help and oversight from Congress, the FCC, and NTIA.”
