Senate Commerce Committee Unveils Witness List for DTV-Transition Hearing
Hearing Comes One Day After Similar Undertaking by House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/11/2008 9:41:00 AM MT
The Senate Commerce Committee released its witness list for a Feb. 14 hearing on the status of the DTV transition. It is one of two being held this week -- the other is Feb. 13 on the House side -- marking one year until the Feb. 18, 2009, hard date for full-power TV stations' conversion to digital.
As with the House hearing, the featured witnesses on the first panel are Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin and National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief Meredith Baker.
The FCC is handling the technical end of the switch, while the NTIA is overseeing a subsidy program for DTV-to-analog converter boxes that allow over-the-air-only analog sets to still receive pictures after the switch.
Weighing in on panel two are Allan Horlick, general manager of WUSA Washington, D.C.; Chris Murray of Consumers Union; and Byron St. Clair, president of the National Translator Association.
Translators, along with low-power stations, don't have to make the switch to DTV on the same date, so there is concern about viewers who might not be able to view those stations using the DTV converter boxes.
