"If you are a cable customer, you may have to do little or nothing to enjoy your favorite programming after the switch to digital TV (DTV). Your cable provider will take care of the transition for you!"
Similar quotes can be found on FCC sites. These quotes are true for many homes, perhaps even most homes. It is true if your focus is high end cable customers with set top boxes. However, among the elderly and economically disadvantaged there are a lot of people with analog TVs connected directly to cable without a set top box. with analog TV, both NAB members and the cable systems used NTSC.
However, a fact not well known outside the policy wonk community is that the usual format for signals in cables systems is becoming 64-QAM, not the over-the-air 8-VSB and the famous NTIA-subsidized boxes only handle 8-VSB per Congressional guidance. The impact of this will be that basic tier cable signals that have traditionally been free and receivable without a set top box will move to 64-QAM in the next few months and out of the reach of the most vulnerable subscribers. So if they have been used to CSPAN, CNN, ESPN, etc. they are in for a rude shock. And who will they blame? Probably not your blogger.
The big cable providers have been delaying this switch for a few months by consensus brokered within NCTA. But this will not last forever.
While the FCC still has its public communications media in high gear would be a good time to prepare the public for "the second shoe to drop". The change is very reasonable and will have many advantages for many people. But if vulnerable people are caught by surprise it will not be a good beginning for the new FCC team which carefully waited out the DTV transition.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Post DTV Transition Issues:
700 MHz and Wireless Mics
Now that the DTV transition has turned out to be "Y2K-like" moment rather than a "Hurricane Katrina-like" moment it is time to get on to other issues that have been ignored for too long. Historians can address the question of what would have happened if the transition had happened in February as originally scheduled and how good or bad a job the Martin chairmanship did in preparation.
On Saturday, Acting Chairman Copps said, "Job One in the coming days and weeks is to help restore service to those consumers who may still be experiencing difficulties."
Let me respectfully disagree. Chairman Martin minimized non-DTV spectrum policy issues during his tenure and only addressed them when forced to by Congress. Thus there was a backlog by the election. Then Sen. Rockefeller urged FCC to focus on DTV after the election and almost everything else came to a halt. It is time to start a reasonable transition to start addressing issues other than pure DTV. So in this post and the next one I will review two DTV transition-related issues that have been ignored in the rush to June 12.
FCC still has not evicted wireless microphones from the 700 MHz band as was proposed in Docket 08-167 (certainly later than it should have been.)
Let me be specific here. On June 14, 2 days after the DTV transition, I attended an affair at the Madison, Wisconsin Hilton Madison Monona Terrace hotel. I noticed a wireless mic was in use and during a break I checked it out. It was an Audio-Technica model, FCC ID: JFZT52B. The operating frequency was marked as 744.85 MHz The chart below shows the significance of that number:
This is the former TV channel 59. However, due to inaction in Docket 08-167, continued sale and use of this unit by Part 74 licensees is perfectly legal! Now hotels are not eligible for Part 74 licenses so their use was illegal, but FCC has "turned its blind eye to this issue for at least a decade.
The band that includes 744.85 MHz was auctioned off by FCC in 2003 with full access after the DTV transition. Are the licensees happy?
If you think the wireless mic manufacturers are taking steps to get their customers, who may have bought new equipment as recently as 2 years ago, to vacate 700 MHz then look at teh following snapshot of Shure's press releases as of June 12th:
See any guidance on vacating 700 MHz at any time?
Let's resolve these issues now by acting on Docket 08-167! May I also suggest that the enforcement issues involved be resolved by signing consent agreements with Shure and Audio-Technica to set aside any enforcement issue for their aggressive merchandising to users ineligible for licenses if they promptly start a public information campaign to expedite departures from 700 MHz, offer credit to 700 MHz equipment users with recent equipment, and make direct mailings to all known users from warranty information databases.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Unsung Hero of DTV Transition: Bob Eckert
As we go down the almost final stretch of the change from analog to digital TV, let me talk about a former FCC colleague who had a key role in the basic planning as a result of years of quiet basic technical work in the shadows of FCC.
The basic details can be found on the web at this location for a session at 2004 NAB convention:
Since 1980, Robert Eckert worked for the FCC specializing in matters relating to radio propagation prediction, spectrum efficiency and frequency-assignment algorithms. In the 1990s his work concentrated on HDTV, where he found ways to assign DTV channels within the current TV broadcast bands while minimizing possibilities for interference. Eckert reflects, “I enjoyed working on the computer programs for evaluating candidate allotment tables. These programs took a long time to run – like 10 days – so one long 4th of July weekend I linked up about a dozen FCC Unix computers to run simultaneously to get the answers we needed. I might dare to admit I so enjoyed computer programming that I spent much of those contract-with-America government furlough days working by modem from home to improve DTV allotment table software, possibly in violation of federal law.” His significant work on the current table of digital TV channels earned him the 2003 NAB Engineering Achievement Award.
Bob joined FCC in 1980 working for me in the old Technical Analysis Division of OET's predecessor, the Office of Science and Technology/OST. Then FCC Chief Scientist Steve Lukasik has a lot of unusual background experiences. One of them dealt with the issue of Cold War SIOP planning. SIOP was the name for the planned nuclear retaliation in the Soviet Union when "the balloon went up". In those days of "thinking about the unthinkable" the goal of the SIOP was to maximize the damage of the Soviet Union given a finite number of bombers and missiles and given that "fratricide" between nuclear weapons might reduce the possible damage.
In a real case of "beating swords into plowshares", Lukasik suggested that the mathematical "nonlinear programming" algorithms used to plan the SIOP could be used for the general problem of how to assign frequencies for any type of radio licenses across the country to maximize the number of licenses given constraints for limiting mutual interference. Note that at this time HDTV, let alone DTV, were on no one's agenda and teh topic was not necessarily focused on broadcasting. It was part of an internally generated research idea on how the FCC might do its job better. So around 1980 Lukasik convinced the Commission to spend about $50,000 for a special version of the algorithm used for SIOP planning and gave the assignment to the newly hired Bob Eckert to use the program and find useful applications for it. Soon Lukasik would leave after the arrival of Chairman Fowler and Bob was pretty much on his own in pursuing the project.
Bob's experience, insight and initiative were key in this project. The inisital program showed the benefits of computer frequency assignment. But when the HDTV/DTV issue arose several years later it was clear that the nonlinear programming algorithm was not adequate for the job of planning a whole new gebneration of broadcast stations. Bob was very knowledgeable by this time in this class of algorithms and found out that Bell Labs had developed an "annealing" algorithms (so called because is was similar to the atomic annealing of metals as they were heated). Bob visited Bell Labs to discuss their approach and then came back to FCC to implement it for the DTV project.
The section in the quote above about UNIX computers referred to the fact that FCC had marginal technical computer resources at that time, but had several DEC UNIX workstation computers that were handling large databases as servers. He realized that he could used these resources in off hours to do the huge computations that were necessary to find solutions for making DTV assignments for both during and after the transition. Several years ago Bob told me that no other group was able to do this large computation from scratch and that the broadcast industry submitted alternative allotments all started with plans he had computed. Thus for years Bob worked evenings and weekends from home to harness the FCC's computer resources together to make the DTV allotments.
Bob retired suddenly about 6 years ago when his wife's chronic illness took a turn for the worse and he decided that taking care of her was his top priority. His name still appears from time to time in FCC filings from broadcast interests.
Bob was recognized by FCC in 1997 with the FCC Silver Medal Award. But I always thought it was odd that such distinguished engineering work towards key FCC goals didn't get the Gold Medal - especially when a top OET manager got 2 Gold Medals for DTV work.
Also, this work would not have been possible without the FCC research funding (nonexistent in the past decade) to buy the original software, Bob's dedication to pursue it when their was not specific end project (before DTV), and then the endless overtime he put in to see the project to its success. These days FCC is not trying new approaches like it did in 1980. Hopefully that will change under the new leadership.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
dtv.gov Gets a Needed Overhaul Still Needs Work
The above is a snapshot from the revised FCC dtv.gov website, announced this week at the NAB convention where all commissioners are required to genuflect. (Anyone remember the furor when Reed Hundt had the chutzpah to attend a major ITU conference that conflicted with the NAB show?)
The change is a positive improvement, but the snapshot, featuring questions highlighted on the top page - not obscure issues, show lingering important problems.
Can I Use My UHF/VHF Antenna to Receive DTV?
Television stations broadcasting in digital use both the VHF (channels 2-13) and UHF (channels 14-51) bands. Many indoor antennas use “rabbit ears” for the VHF band and a “loop” or “bow-tie” antenna for the UHF band.
There is a lot of truth to this. But if you live in or near another of the "orange triangles" in the new improved FCC coverage maps - a great improvement to the site made around January - you need more antenna gain, basically a better antenna or an outdoor replacement for your rabbit ears. These "orange triangles" occur because of stations changing locations, changing frequency, and changing power. They are a small fraction of US homes, but they are quite real. The advice is oversimplistic.
Does the DTV Transition Affect TV Sets That Are Connected to Cable Services?
No. If you subscribe to cable service, the DTV transition should not affect any TV sets that are connected to your cable services. The DTV transition applies only to full-power broadcast television stations – stations that use the public airwaves to transmit their programming to viewers through a broadcast antenna. (Emphasis added.)
As I have written before, this is also a half truth. If your analog TV is connected to the cable system without a set top box and if you watch basic tier nonbroadcast cable, e.g. CNN, C-SPAN, MTV, Food Network, etc., you are in for an unpleasant surprise. While communications policy wonks will quibble over parsing the website quote and my sentence, try to explain that to your neighbor or an elderly person in a nursing home. The American public deserves a clearer explanation of the basic tier situation, not one from K St. lawyers. I am not saying the policy is wrong, just that there is a dearth of consumer friendly information.
I note that the new FCC/Consumers Union "DTV Made Easy" booklet has better explanations of both the antenna and CATV problems, but is written in rather odd English - perhaps reflecting too much editing from too many editors:
"My TV is connected to a for-pay cable, satellite, or phone company service. If so, you’re all set! Any TV, no matter how old, will continue to work with cable, satellite, or phone-company TV service that you are already paying for. Most subscribers don’t have to do anything to keep getting their usual TV programming. One exception: If your cable company discontinues all analog service (its own choice, not required by the government), subscribers who currently plug the cable directly into the TV may need to rent a cable box, usually for $5 to $7 a month. (This is not the same as a DTV converter box, which is used with an antenna.) The cable company must notify affected consumers and offer the equipment they need. However, most cable companies are expected to continue analog-cable service, and they cannot require you to get a box or upgrade to digital cable to get the local channels you now receive."
But why should the web site contain misleading information by ignoring the "one exception"? Why not link to the booklet in a note saying to look for the details there?
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Washington Post: "The Digital Transition, TV's Long-Running Horror Show"
In today's Post, Rob Pegoraro has the above titled article about the DTV transition.
In the paragraph entitled "DTV or HDTV?" he garbled the history of DTV somewhat and the Brinkley book, Defining Vision, is more accurate. DTV started as analog HDTV - an NAB attempt to kill off increased land mobile sharing of TV spectrum by using technology NHK of Japan had developed. Then several US techie renegades, including MIT my alma mater, showed DTV was feasible for HDTV. Then some mainstream broadcasters started salivating on extra capacity not HDTV and pressed for the flexibility to make consumers pay for new electronics but not necessarily get significantly improved pictures - but more versions of Laverne and Shirley. The final rules struck a better balance.
Some interesting quotes from the article:
"-- Late, not-so-great converter boxes: One remedy was supposed to be a flood of cheap converter boxes that could bring any old TV into the digital era. But these boxes didn't land in stores until spring 2008. They had to pass government-run performance tests, but no such attention was paid to their usability -- leaving buyers to puzzle through different arrangements of antenna jacks and video inputs and outputs.
...
-- Guessing games with local signals: The best digital tuner won't help if a nearby station airs a digital signal at partial strength or under some other temporary impairment. But viewers have few easy ways to check for those problems or to see whether a station's reception will clear up after its signal moves to a different frequency after the analog shutoff.
...
The FCC collects a wealth of technical detail from broadcasters but hides it behind one of the worst-organized, least-helpful sites in all of government. Until that agency began providing a more accessible site earlier this year (http://dtv.gov/fixreception.html), your best source might have been a volunteer-run site, http://rabbitears.info. [Emphasis added.]
...
-- Cable's botched digital transition: Viewers who subscribe to cable TV haven't had to worry about these issues. But the digital upgrades cable operators have made to their networks inflicted pain of their own.
Those companies cut analog service that worked on "cable-ready" TVs without establishing a standard for digital-cable reception that would let viewers continue to opt out of cable boxes. They made a total mess of their first big attempt at a standard link between digital-cable services and digital TVs, the CableCard, and have taken so long with their second, Tru2Way, that it won't hit the mass market until well after analog TV's death"
Saturday, February 28, 2009
NYTimes: Broadcast TV Faces Struggle to Stay Viable
I was in the Capitol South Metro station in DC recently and noticed that NAB had bought all the advertising space in the station, used by many Congressional staffers as it is located adjacent to the House office buildings. The various NAB ads in the station talked about the pending advent of DTV, its wonders, and then had the surprising statement that the 100 most popular programs on TV are on "free TV". No proof or references were given for this claim. A senior NAB staffer I met at an FCBA meeting assured me it was correct. So, NAB could you please reply to this post with a reference or explanation why this claim is correct.
"For decades, the big three, now big four, networks all had the same game plan: spend many millions to develop and produce scripted shows aimed at a mass audience and national advertisers, with a shelf life of years or decades as reruns in syndication.
...
The future for the networks, it seems, is more low-cost reality shows, more news and talk, and a greater effort to find new revenue streams, whether they be from receiving subscriber fees as cable channels do, or becoming cable networks themselves, an idea that has gained currency."
So how are the NAB members with the top 100 TV programs doing financially?
"Financially, the networks are on shaky ground, partly because they rely almost solely on advertising. CBS reported that for the fourth quarter of last year, as the recession deepened, operating income in its television segment declined 40 percent, even though it was by far the most-watched network. In the second week of February, CBS had 12 of the top 20 shows, according to Nielsen Media Research.
News Corporation, which owns Fox, reported operating income of $18 million in broadcast television, compared with $245 million a year ago. And Disney’s broadcasting business had a 60 percent drop in operating income.
...
Jeff Zucker, the chief of NBC Universal, has been more pessimistic, saying, “broadcast television is in a time of tremendous transition, and if we don’t attempt to change the model now, we could be in danger of becoming the automobile industry or the newspaper industry.
Recently, Robert A. Iger, the chief of the Walt Disney Company, surprised Wall Street when he acknowledged in a conference call with analysts and reporters that some of the company’s businesses were experiencing profound change as competition for people’s time increased and consumers were confronted with an abundance of choices. “This clearly has had an impact on broadcast television,” he said.
...
In the last three months of 2008, broadcast networks lost nearly three million viewers, or about 7 percent of their total audience. Overall television viewing is up, however, and some big cable networks, like USA and TNT, are attracting new viewers.”
Meanwhile FCC continues to protect broadcasters with their ever declining audiences. A big question not mentioned in the article is what will happen to over-the-air TV reception when the dust from the DTV transition settles in June. Many think CATV, DBS, and FiOS-like service will be the big gainer from the switch to DTV but it may be a year before we see hard data.
It is ironic that, as the book Defining Vision describes in detail, DTV results from an NAB initiative in the mid-1980s to derail increased land mobile sharing of UHF TV spectrum and preserve the spectrum hegemony of NAB members. (It was also supposed to save the US consumer electronics industry - something it clearly failed to do.)
I have written previously about what NCTA calls the "2nd DTV transition" - the switch of basic tier cable signals, e.g. CNN, C-SPAN, from analog format to the euphonious, consumer friendly "64-QAM" format. But now that the over-the-air switch is a double event in February and June, is the cable event the 3rd transition?
"Does the DTV transition affect TV sets that are connected to cable services?
No. If you subscribe to cable service, the DTV transition should not affect any TV sets that are connected to your cable services. The DTV transition applies only to full-power broadcast television stations – stations that use the public airwaves to transmit their programming to viewers through a broadcast antenna.
Is the FCC making cable companies switch to digital service?
No. Cable companies are not required to switch to digital service. Cable companies may choose to make their service all or partly digital, but they are not required to change from the analog service they offer today. In fact, the FCC requires cable companies to continue to provide local stations in analog as long as they provide any analog service, even after June 12, 2009.
Can my cable company make me get a box to receive the cable channels I receive today without a box?
Some cable companies have decided to switch to digital service. This is a business decision made by the cable companies and is not required by the federal government. Your cable company may decide to move certain cable channels off of its analog service tier and onto a digital service tier, or it may decide to switch to all-digital service at once, so that there is no analog service tier for any subscribers. If your cable company decides to move some or all of the channels it provides onto a digital service tier, it may notify you that you need to get "digital cable" equipment to continue receiving that cable service. This may include renting or purchasing a digital cable set-top box or purchasing a digital cable ready TV equipped with a "CableCARD" slot. The digital cable equipment is different from the digital-to-analog converter boxes that are used to receive over-the-air broadcast signals. [Emphasis added]
Note the last sentence which indirectly explains the 8-VSB/64-QAM difference that we policy wonks know all about.
But do a sanity check. Ask your neighbors and the elderly with CATV if they know that they will soon either have to have new equipment or pay an additional charge for the basic tier non-must carry signals they have been watching with their analog TV sets.
Then reread the first sentence in the FCC quote: "If you subscribe to cable service, the DTV transition should not affect any TV sets that are connected to your cable services." This is legally correct, but how many people other than policy wonks really understand it at present?
Just be prepared for a major backlash unless this issued is clarified with the public. It is not enough for both NCTA and FCC to say that it isn't their fault. They should give the public realistic expectations and schedules.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Major Improvement on FCC dtv.gov Website
Congratulations to the new FCC team for improving the FCC's half of the feuding government DTV websites. The new design is much better and even has a video on converter connection on the top page. There is also a new nifty consumer oriented coverage map page that tells you what signals you might expect and how strong they should be.
There is a new news release on the status of the transition that does not read that it was intended for FCBA members or to blunt congressional questioning - but to actually help consumers. One minor criticism, realizing how hard it is to make the FCC consumer friendly quickly, the attachment to the new release still uses FCC jargon that consumers are unlikely to be familiar with and doesn't give even a glossary: DMA, Nite Lite, Nite Lite Plus, HardshipWVR.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Washington Post Writes on DTV Transition: "A Classic Tale of Breakdown"
Today's Post has a front page article on the DTV transition. Here is a memorable quote:
"The coupon program has both sufficient funds and system processing capabilities to achieve this goal, to distribute a total of more than 50 million coupons through March 31, 2009, and to do so without the creation of a large backlog ... Also, NTIA has built flexibility into the program to respond to various or unexpected events." Meredith Atwell Baker, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information (Head of NTIA), November 6, 2008
It describes how a bipartisan team of Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.) began drafting a bill that would have waived the OMB accounting rules that limited the issued coupons to the account appropriated even though 40% were not being used and allowed first-class postage rather than 4 week "junk mail" delivery. However, they gave up due to Bush Administration opposition.
I only hope we learn from this problem and use the next few months more constructively.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
FCC Beats NTIA in Updating DTV Website!
In my previous post I speculated on how long it would take FCC to update its website to reflect the change in DTV transition. A poster suggested June 13th!
At the top of this post are snapshots of the two competing websites from FCC and NTIA. The FCC top page has been updated to reflect the June 12 date of the new legislation. However, NTIA still reports "7 days to the end of analog broadcasting".
Now in fairness to NTIA, the box to the right labeled "Coupon Program Update" has a link to a new page that says
"Congress passed the DTV Delay Act, which would postpone the conclusion of the digital television transition to June 12, 2009 and give U.S. households additional time to prepare for this historic switch. However, this legislation does not change the operation of the TV Converter Box Coupon Program at this time. The DTV Delay Act will allow the Coupon Program, upon request, to offer replacement coupons for those which have expired without being redeemed. However, this program change will not take effect until the Coupon Program receives additional funding."
But that page, in turn has a link to a "Consumer Guide" that says,
"If you have an analog TV and rely on a rooftop antenna or “rabbit ears,” a TV converter box is one option to transition to digital TV on or before February 17, 2009. The TV Converter Box Coupon Program has reached its funding ceiling. If you waited until 2009 to apply for a coupon, your coupon application will be put on a waiting list. Coupon requests from eligible households will only be filled as funds from expiring coupons become available. Coupons will be mailed on a first-come, first-served basis as funding becomes available"
Maybe if NTIA and FCC combined their resources better so NTIA focused on the mechanics of coupon distribution and used FCC provided material for background they could both do a better job. But cooperation is not a long tradition between these 2 agencies unfortunately.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Using the Additional Time for the DTV Transition
Now that Congress has, for whatever reason, extended the DTV transition, FCC and NTIA will look like the SEC at this week's hearing if they don't take advantage of the time to try to improve things. The image at top is from FCC's website today - the date of the transition has not been changed yet. Shall we start a pool on when it will be changed? Feel to post your own guess to this blog below.
I have commented in the past on the "battling DTV websites" of NTIA and FCC: www.dtv.gov and www.dtv2009.gov . While NTIA is tasked by law to give out the famous coupons, the information they give on related issues is not always the same as FCC's. I am not saying whose is better - but why can't they agree to use the same information on the details?
I was looking recently at the foreign language information available on both websites. Here is a table of what's there along with Census data:
Language
Total Speakers in US
Speakers Whose English Ability Rated "Not Well" or "Not at All"
Somali data - http://paa2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=61036 Both FCC and NTIA have traditional Chinese characters (PRC) and simplified characters (Taiwan)
The second column gives the total number of speakers of each language in the US and the third gives, more importantly, the number of speakers who can't speak English well. The data is based on the 2000 census and hence isn't good for recent refugees from Sudan and Somalia. It also only has English speaking data for the top 20 languages. I did not include one language on the NTIA site that I think is Laotian or Cambodian.
I suspect this data shows that if your congressman has influence, you are much more likely to get information in your language. Thus the 16,000 Yup'ik speakers get information from FCC, but not NTIA, while the 86,000 German speakers with bad English don't. NTIA also ignores Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Japanese, and French Creole which account for 517,000 people with poor English ability. If you want some clues as to why a language was chosen, check out the geographic distribution of each language and you can guess which congressman pressured which agency. For example did Ted Stevens ask for Yup'ik while no one spoke up for Armenian?
In the case of the Hmong, an interesting question is whether the older immigrants who don't speak English can read Hmong since it was only a spoken language until the late 20th century. Similarly, there are Navajos in rural areas who avoided compulsory education and don't speak English but it is not clear if they can read Navajo.
The new team at FCC inherited a real mess as they all realize. I hope they can make real progress soon. I also hope they remember to explain to the public what NCTA calls the "Second DTV Transition" this has a real potential to embarrass everyone involved unless the cable industry explains better what is happening.
As Congress debates moving the DTV transition to June, most people think there is only one DTV transition, the one currently scheduled for 2/17/09. But as the above quote from NCTA points out there are really two in our future. The first one being the over-the-air transition that gets all the press and which is mandated by law, the second being a continuing evolution in the CATV industry to all digital signals within their networks. Let me say up front that I have no faults with what the cable industry is doing with their technology, but the dearth of public information from both the industry and the FCC is very likely to cause a problem when the "second transition" happens later this year. Former Chairman Kennard has called the (first) DTV transition "a potential Hurricane Katrina-like moment". The second could be almost as bad if the public is not told about it in an effective way.
Today's Washington Post had the following Q&A about cable and DTV by Rob Pegoraro:
QYou wrote that the digital-TV transition has nothing to do with cable TV going from analog to digital, but my cable company seems to disagree. What's the real story with digital cable?
ADigital cable, in which TV programs are compressed and encoded as a stream of ones and zeroes before being sent over cable lines, isn't new. Cable operators have been adopting it not because of the over-the-air DTV transition -- remember, they don't use the regular TV airwaves -- but for the same reason that wireless-phone carriers ditched analog cellular: digital uses much less of their bandwidth.
But the movement of many popular basic-cable channels from analog to digital is a more recent development.
This represents a problem for viewers with older cable-ready TVs, who now must rent a digital cable box. Many digital sets include a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) tuner that can receive unencrypted digital cable signals without a box, but these sets can have problems detecting available channels on a cable system's digital feed.
A second problem arises when cable companies suggest that their digital transition has been forced by the over-the-air DTV switch -- an argument as illogical as blaming digital migrations on the Redskins' late-season collapse. Herndon-based RCN, which provides service in the District, Montgomery County and Falls Church, has been the source of many such complaints from readers. RCN spokesman Michael Houghton said the company has "had relatively few issues of this type," considering the magnitude of its move to an all-digital system.
"We've cautioned all our members . . . to be very clear about not using the broadcast transition as a way to justify the migration of cable channels," wrote Brian Dietz, a vice president for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.
"If you are a cable customer, you may have to do little or nothing to enjoy your favorite programming after the switch to digital TV (DTV). Your cable provider will take care of the transition for you!" (Emphasis added)
Now what exactly is "your favorite programming", especially if you have an analog TV set connected directly to cable without a set top box? Most readers of this blog know what "must carry" stations are. But ask your neighbors who have cable/satellite/fiber if they really understand the difference about which of their basic tier signals are governed by the must carry rules and which are not, e.g. CNN, C-SPAN, MTV, Food Network etc.
The digital (DTV) transition applies only to full-power TV broadcast stations. It refers to the switch from analog to digital broadcast television.
The DTV transition does not require cable companies to switch their cable systems to digital.
For voluntary business reasons, your cable company may decide to move some cable channels from its analog tier onto a digital tier, or may switch to all-digital service and stop providing any analog service. This is not required by the government. (sic)
As long as your cable company offers any analog service, it must provide you with your local broadcast stations so you can watch them without a cable set-top box.
So FCC has denied all responsibility, which is strictly speaking correct. But then why did FCC send all those Letters of Inquiry to cable operators around Halloween?
There is some good news on yet another NCTA-related website, which has gotten little attention to date. The major cable operators will not switch basic tier channel to the digital tier during a 2 month "quiet period" :
Even with those efforts, the cable industry has been asked to consider taking additional steps to help smooth the DTV transition. In response to these requests, cable operators represented on the NCTA Board of Directors (who own and operate cable systems serving ninety percent of the nation’s cable subscribers) have committed to the following:
Digital Migration “Quiet Period.” To minimize consumer confusion during the DTV transition, operators will delay the substitution of digital versions of existing analog channels from December 31, 2008, to March 1, 2009, except to the extent necessary to free up bandwidth to comply with the requirement to carry broadcast signals in both analog and digital formats or meet contractual carriage obligations.
Analog Broadcast Basic Tier. Operators that offer dual carriage of broadcast signals would make access to the analog broadcast basic tier available under a promotional offer to new customers who subscribe just to that tier. This offer would be available beginning December 31, 2008, and would continue for at least 120 days after the proposed quiet period – through June 30, 2009. The service would be provided at the promotional price for at least one year after the customer subscribes.
No Additional Charge for Equipment or Service. Recognizing that there is likely to be continuing consumer confusion even after the February 17, 2009 broadcaster DTV transition, operators would also provide the following additional assistance to all-analog cable households during and for at least 120 days after the proposed quiet period – through June 30, 2009 – to help them manage cable’s digital transition. If, during this period, an operator removes the analog version of a PEG or other channel from the broadcast basic or expanded basic tier and replaces it with a digital version of the channel on either of those tiers, the operator would make available to all-analog households, upon request, at least one free device that enables those households to view the channel. The device provided under this program would remain free for at least one year. There would also be no additional service charge for at least one year for the affected channel or, at the operator’s option, the broadcast basic or expanded basic tier where the digital version of the channel has been placed. Individual operators may choose to continue this program after June 30, 2009, or to initiate other similar programs after that date.
Clear and Conspicuous Customer Notification of Any Channel Migration. Whenever operators cease transmitting analog PEG or cable programming services and begin offering those channels only in digital, they will provide clear and conspicuous notice to affected subscribers and franchising authorities not less than 30 days in advance. The notice would also inform subscribers that they have at least 60 days to avail themselves of the offers described above.
On point the cable industry is still evasive about: If a channel such as CNN is in the basic analog tier today, will it be viewable with a DTV receiver that has a 64-QAM input but no set top box? The answer apparently will vary from system to system and systems that will require set top boxes at a fee to watch former basic tier channels should prepare for major consumer backlash -- although they are well within their legal rights.
Indeed, the fact that we have no more convenient shorthand for talking about 64-QAM than its technojargon name probably indicates that industry hasn't been very interested in consumers connecting directly to cable without a set top box.
So ask your (non telecom policy wonk) neighbors with cable if they understand what is about to happen and see if they understand. Then visit a nursing home and see if the residents there understand that some of their favorite channels may disappear in a few months but that it is not FCC's fault.
UPDATE
For a specific example of the confusion that can result in this matter, here is an article from the 1/28/09 Washington Post on the changes by RCN in the Washington area. (Apparently RCN is not one of the companies on the NCTA board who have agreed to the voluntary "quiet period".)
Part of the article says,
"Television audiences across the country are getting ready for the switch to all-digital broadcasting scheduled for next month. But in the District, another TV transition is causing confusion for some cable customers.
Cable company RCN last week shut off analog channels in the Chevy Chase area, and it will do the same in parts of Northwest D.C. this week as it shifts to digital technology. The effort is part of an "analog crush," in which RCN is getting rid of analog signals to increase its channel offerings.
That means that customers used to plugging coaxial cable cords directly into a TV now will need a digital converter box for every TV set to get channels.
But for some, RCN's move from analog to digital service couldn't have come at a worse time."
NAB, MSTV, and Shure have asked for an extended phase out period including public safety and other licensees being required to notify wireless mic users to vacate - but not giving the slightest hint how to find this unlicensed and lawless crowd; and recently
A coalition including Alcatel-Lucent, APCO, AT&T, CTIA, Motorola, NENA, PISC, Qualcomm, and Verizon Wireless wrote FCC on this issue.
The coalition letter urges
"the Commission to take swift action to ensure that the use of low power auxiliary stations (e.g., wireless microphone systems) in the 700 MHz band does not threaten the future use of important spectrum that is being made available with the DTV transition."
So a lot has happened since SpectrumTalk first pointed out the problem, but nothing has been resolved. Maybe when FCC has to deal with deciding between pleasing the broadcasters and pleasing public safety it really doesn't know what to do?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Ua'u Brings DTV to Hawaii Early
In one of the many complications of the DTV transition, an endangered bird, the Ua'u or dark-rumped petrel, will bring DTV to Hawaii on January 15 - ahead of the other 49 states.FCC's www.dtv.gov website explains:
"(T)he broadcasters in Hawai'i requested to move the DTV transition date forward.
Currently, most analog broadcasts on Maui are transmitted from equipment located at the top of Haleakala. The Department of Defense and the University of Hawai'i had requested that broadcasters relocate their transmission equipment because of interference with astrological (sic) equipment also located on Haleakala. It had always been the broadcasters' plan to, upon the DTV transition date, broadcast only in digital at a new antenna farm lower down the mountain at Ulupalakua. Upon the switch, the equipment on Haleakala would be removed.
The Hawaiian petrel - a threatened bird species - nests upon Haleakala beginning in March. Broadcasters needed to make the change to digital early in order to take down existing mountaintop transmission equipment before the petrels arrive. It was decided that if Maui had to make the DTV transition early, it would make sense to have the entire state do the same to prevent possible confusion among consumers within the state."
(Of course, some of us may be wondering about the astrological equipment on Haleakala and why DoD and FCC are so interested in protecting it, perhaps it is part of the Area 51 coverup.)Fortunately, Multichannel News has a more lucid explanation than the above garble from the FCC's site,
Hawaii TV stations have found a new site on (Haleakala) for their digital towers. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense and the University of Hawaii -- which have their own facilities at the Haleakala summit -- are pressing the TV stations to take down the analog towers immediately after the transition.
But the stations can't do that in February after the national DTV transition because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said doing so then could unsettle the dark-rumped petrel's nesting season, Rosenberg said.
"Some time in early February, they start nesting -- not in the towers but in the areas where the towers are located at the top of the mountain," Rosenberg said. "Fish and Wildlife has recommended -- and recommended is not strong enough a word -- that we need to deconstruct our present tower locations prior to February."
Rosenberg said that if the analog towers don't come down in January, the stations would have to wait a year to do so, and that would be untenable for the Pentagon and the University of Hawaii.
"We would be doing a disservice the Department of Defense and the University of Hawaii, who would like us out of there prior to that. They want to clean up the land," Rosenberg said.
Multichannel News also reports that as of October 9th the Hawaiian broadcasters hadn't bothered to discuss this issue with Time Warner Cable, the dominant CATV provider in the state. Kauai will switch at a later date since it is served by low power translators, not the Haleaka transmitters.FCC now has 5 employees detailed to Hawaii for the transition in addition to the 2 Enforcement Bureau staffers permanently stationed there. This density is equivalent to having 1600 FCC employees on the road across the country, a far greater number that are actually being deployed. FCC only has a little over 2000 employees in total.Finally AP reports,
As for the Hawaiian petrel, removal of the nearby transmission towers that sometimes interfere with their flight could help their populations grow, said Cathleen Bailey, a biologist at Haleakala National Park.
Comm. Adelstein echoed related concerns and proposed corrective steps in a 12/2/08 talk in Washington. Here are some excerpts:
"Think about it: less than 30 days after the inauguration of President Obama, this nation will experience an unprecedented change in TV. And we are far from prepared to ensure it goes smoothly. The DTV transition isn’t ready for prime time.
The number of over-the-air reliant households remains enormous –an estimated 15 to 20 million. This is more than just for entertainment – this is public safety. Most households rely heavily on analog TV to receive emergency information, including the Emergency Alert System. And, according to reports, only a small percentage of over-the-air households own a digital television.
As the Commission has observed, “the households that principallyrely on OTA broadcasts are the most vulnerable and difficult to reach: almost half have annual incomes of less than $30,000, and two-thirds are headed by someone over 50 years of age or someone for whom English is a second language.”
And, as Nielsen has recently reported, Hispanic TV households remain the slowest group to prepare for the transition. ...
With most major TV stations ceasing to broadcast in analog all at once on the same day,it’s a huge challenge. Unfortunately, the FCC’s management of the DTV transition continues to underestimate the task.
I testified over a year ago before the Senate Commerce Committee that the Governmental Accountability Office has found that no agency was in charge of the transition, and there was no strategic plan. Here we are, with a precious year passed, and there is still no established structure or strategic plan. Nobody is ultimately responsible for vetting, prioritizing and implementing ideas from both the public and private sectors into a comprehensive and coherent course of action.
We’re sending out weak signals, so the public isn’t getting a clear picture. I believe that only the federal government can play the role of referee to ensure that industry representatives with sometimes conflicting priorities are coordinated to send a clear message that serves all consumers and is not skewed by self-interest. And I hear from many perspectives that our government agencies themselves aren’t coordinated
As GAO testified, the FCC is best positioned to lead this effort, and our talented staff performs well whenever they are given proper guidance. But while the FCC staff has been hard at work, and despite some improvements, the Commission’s overall DTV effort is not a model of effectiveness. Congressional interest and public scrutiny have rightly forced the FCC to expand its overall outreach, enforcement and technical efforts.
But much more is needed.
Because we’ve failed to plan, we’ve been playing catch-up. Rather than being proactive–anticipating problems and concerns, and developing an effective strategy –we’ve been reactive.
For instance, we’ve always known that there would be some loss of signal coverage in certain areas due to unavoidable engineering changes or environmental and zoning issues.
As the Commission has recognized, a portion of the existing analog service areas of some full-power stations will no longer be able to receive service after the station transitions to digital. But the Commission has only recently started to address this very real concern. ...
As many of you may know, the beach resort community of Wilmington became the “first in flight” to cut off analog TV broadcasting and go digital in September. The common wisdom is that everything went “smoothly,” with a few glitches. The reality is that a minor turbulence in one small town, magnified nationwide, portends a transition not ready to fly.
Rather than giving us a false sense of complacency, Wilmington should force us to jum start the Commission’s lackluster efforts. We could easily find more than 2 million Americans, many of whom are elderly, physically-impaired, non-English speaking, living in rural areas or with limited incomes, needing help. We expect to see snow in many driveways next winter. But a lot of people are going to be surprised to see snow on their TVs if the FCC doesn’t get its act together.
The issues viewers experienced in Wilmington at first glance seem modest. It was manageable since it amounted to 2,272 calls in the first couple of weeks. But Wilmington is a small town, and this is a big country. A fuller picture emerges when you consider that only 7 percent of Wilmington viewers receive their TV over the air, versus 12 percentnationwide. And Wilmington is flat as a board, in contrast to the hills, valleys, waterways and buildings that impact broadcasting which are found in so many parts of America.
While in Wilmington only 14,000 households rely exclusivelyon over-the-air TV reception, 13.6 million do so nationwide. That means we should expect calls from at least 2.2 million households nationwide seeking help in the first days after the national transition deadline. And that’s the optimistic scenario.
In the months before this test, the FCC probably spent more resources in Wilmington than in the rest of the country combined. For months, at least five high-ranking staffers were on the ground in every county, at every blueberry festival. We even paid firefighters to go into homes to help those who needed it. If today we shut down the FCC and sent every employee across the country, it wouldn’t touch the impact we had in Wilmington. And yet, even after all of that, we got thousands of calls."
Comm. Adelstein went on to outline a six part proposal for action:
We need to assemble and train teams of DTV assistance workers to go into every market, city and town in the U.S. to ensure that ever community get a baseline level of organizational and resource support.
We need to facilitate a viral campaign in coordination with congressional and governmental offices and community organizations to encourage tech savvy individuals to assist family members, friends, and neighbors with converter box installation.
We need to encourage elected officials, from Governors to Mayors and beyond, to get involved in making this happen on the ground.
We need to increase our phone bank capacity to handle 2 million phone calls in the days immediately following February 17.
We need to move much faster to finalize grants to community organizations and event planners to assist with the transition effort.
We should ask our telco, cable and satellite partners to get involved on a local level.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A nine-car NASCAR pileup may have wrecked a vehicle sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission, but it gave the agency more mileage in advertising the imminent switch to digital TV signals, the FCC's chief said on Monday.
The FCC spent about $350,000 to sponsor the car in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing event on Sunday, to advertise the TV signal switch mandated by U.S. lawmakers to free up airwaves for public users such as police and fire departments.
NASCAR driver David Gilliland accidentally crashed the car in the Arizona race.
Asked if it was a bad omen for the switch, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters it was more of a silver lining. "Except for the cars that win the races, the cars that are in wrecks get a lot of attention," he said.
With 100 days before the old analog signals disappear, the FCC, broadcast officials and consumer groups are stepping up efforts to educate millions of consumers about what they need to do to prevent their sets from going dark.
About 15 percent of all households in the United States use only analog TV sets and would risk their screens going black as analog signals are turned off, according to the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog.
Owners of analog TV sets can buy a converter box to receive a digital signal. They can get a $40 coupon from the government to subsidize the cost by going to: https://www.dtv2009.gov/
Martin, a Republican named by U.S. President George W. Bush, deflected questions about whether he would stay on when President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.
"I don't have any plans to go anywhere yet," Martin said. In response to a question, he said he might consider staying on for a longer period of time to help with the digital transition.
Martin said he has not spoken with anyone from the Obama transition team.
If Martin left, it would leave the FCC in the voting hands of two Democrats and one Republican, because the term of a second Republican commissioner, Deborah Taylor Tate, expires soon.
Appointment of a new FCC chair is not expected to be Obama's top priority, amid a sinking economy and the financial crisis, so one of the two Democrats will likely be interim chairman for a while.
About 34 million converter box coupons have been requested from the government, according to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, whose agency administers the coupon program.
But only about 14 million have redeemed the coupons, he said.
"A lot of people will be taking action very late," said David Rehr, head of the National Association of Broadcasters which represents big networks, such as Walt Disney Co's ABC and General Electric Co's NBC.
Consumers are encouraged to get the boxes early to test them out. Some sets may need an extra antennae to be functional.
(Reporting by Kim Dixon, editing by Richard Chang)
No Crash, No Coverage
Good news and bad news on the conversion to digital television.
First, the good news: NASCAR's David Gilliland, driving the Federal Communications Commission-sponsored DTV-awareness car to publicize the Feb. 17 deadline for the big switch, did not crash Sunday in Miami in the third and final race of the sponsorship deal. He wrecked in two previous races, first after being bumped into the wall and then, last week, in a multi-car pileup.
Now, the bad news: He didn't crash. Worse yet, he didn't win. This is not good, as FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, theorized to reporters last week, because TV coverage tends to focus on the winning cars and the ones involved in crashes. The rest just seem to whiz by, and it's hard for people to read the sponsorship banners pasted on the sides and front.
Click on picture below to see video of 11/9/08 race and crash from YouTube
"Where cutting edge radio technologies get the spectrum policy answers to become real products." -- MSS is an independent consulting firm specializing in the spectrum policy issues of innovative wireless technologies and complex spectrum management issues. How can we help you with your wireless problems? Click on the above logo for more information.
Michael Marcus is a native of Boston and received S.B. and Sc.D. degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. Working at FCC from 1979-2004, he proposed and then directed the development of policies for cutting edge radio technologies such as spread spectrum/CDMA and millimeterwaves. The rules for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and most of the cordless phones sold in the US are one outcome of his early leadership. He had several key roles in the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force. Upon retiring from FCC as Associate Chief for Technology, Office of Engineering and Technology in 2004, he became an independent consultant in radio technology and spectrum policy. Initially based in Paris, France, he is now based in the Washington, DC area and is serving clients throughout the world. He worked in the FCC's Japanese counterpart (now MIC) on an exchange program and has been an advisor to the European Commission. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and has been active in the Federal Communications Bar Association.
In honor of the 25th anniversary year of the FCC's adoption of the rules that created Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, here is the 6/81 Commission meeting discussion that started deliberations in this matter. (FCC archive video)
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