Senate Commerce Committee Names DTV Witnesses

Sept. 23 hearing on DTV transition shares many participants with this past week's House hearing.

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/19/2008 9:28:00 AM

The Senate Commerce Committee named the witnesses for its Sept. 23 hearing on the digital-TV transition, and the list looks rather similar to the lineup for this past week's House hearing on the same subject.

Making repeat appearances will be Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin, acting National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief Meredith Attwell Baker and Mark Goldstein of the Government Accountability Office, which released a DTV report somewhat critical of the NTIA.

Also on the list for the Senate hearing were Bill Saffo, mayor of Wilmington, N.C., which pulled the plug on full-power analog TV Sept. 8, and Josefina Carbonell, assistant secretary for aging at the Department of Health and Human Services. Seniors are one of the government's target populations for DTV education.