B'casters get gov't reprieve
Commerce Dept. official Larry Irving said the additional year was added to ensure that broadcasters would have 10 years to make the transition from analog to digital TV before their current spectrum is repossessed by the government and sold at auction.
However, the administration is sticking with its plan to sell the broadcasters' current spectrum in 2002, but the successful bidders will have to wait four years before they can claim their airwaves.
The auction date is critical because the administration wants to count the $14.8 billion sale of the channels that the broadcasters are now using in its effort to balance the budget by 2002. The administration plans to raise a total of $36.1 billion from sale of spectrum auctions by 2002.
Included in the $36.1 billion total is the projected $3.5 billion in proceeds from the sale of frequencies between channels 60 and 69. The balance of the $36.1 billion will come from the sale of airwaves now used by the Defense Dept. and other government agencies.
Once the broadcasters' current frequencies are returned to the government, every TV set now in use will be rendered obsolete.
Irving's statement was made during a House Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing on spectrum auctions, and came minutes after NBC president Robert Wright testified that the administration was being overly optimistic when it estimated that consumers would be able to throw out their current TV sets in time to meet the administrations' deadline.
"If broadcasters are forced to vacate prematurely their analog spectrum before consumers have had sufficient opportunity to purchase digital television sets, millions of consumers would be left in an untenable position of either having to choose between accelerated purchase of expensive digital sets or interim converter boxes, or being left without any means of receiving free over-the-air television at all," testified Wright.
Like several members of the Telecommunications Subcommittee, Wright complained that the administration was sacrificing sound spectrum policy so that auctions could be held in time to meet the deadlines for balancing the budget by 2002.
"Congress should not sacrifice DTV on the altar of deficit reduction," said Wright in his prepared testimony.
House Commerce Committee chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) had harsh words for the administration's proposal, which he said was a transparent attempt to lay claim to auction revenues that would never be collected. "The annual budget cycle has begun once again, and this means that quick-fix proposals involving the sale of spectrum emerge like snake oil salesmen at the local carnival."
Bliley also criticized the administration's plan to make broadcasters liable for any shortfall if the auction of broadcast channels fails to raise the projected $14.8 billion.
Bliley called the plan a "Rube Goldberg" scheme that would never result in any collections for the federal treasury. "All that matters is that the current administration get credit for the numbers now, and we'll worry later about whether the receipts are actually deposited," said Bliley.
Under questioning by House Telecommunications chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.), Irving conceded that it was not a "coincidence" that the auctions are scheduled in time to meet the deadline for meeting the federal budget by 2002.
As Irving wrapped up his sometimes contested testimony, Rep. Steve Largent (R-Ok.) said, "Republicans are just as guilty when it comes to playing games with spectrum auctions." Largent offered the encouragement, he said, in the bipartisan spirit that Congress is trying to keep alive.
