[Medianews] GROUPS TO FCC: DIGITAL TV LACKS PUBLIC BENEFIT

[George Antunes]

GROUPS TO FCC: DIGITAL TV LACKS PUBLIC BENEFIT

TVNEWSDAY
Aug. 15, 11:29 AM ET

A coalition of 28 organizations asks the commission to define the public 
interest obligations of digital television broadcasters.

By TVNewsday Staff

http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/08/15/daily.9/


A coalition of 28 groups said in a filing at the FCC today that over the 
past 12 years, the FCC “has repeatedly failed to redefine broadcasters’ 
public interest obligations in light of the nation’s ongoing transition to 
digital television.”

The groups echoed the warnings of FCC Commissioner Michael Copps that this 
“record of inaction” may “go down . . . as the commission’s major failing 
in its efforts to move the digital transition forward.”

The groups’ filing came in the FCC’s third periodic review of the 
conversion of the nation’s broadcast television system from analog to 
digital television on Feb. 18, 2009.

In its rulemaking, the FCC proposed procedures and rule changes necessary 
to complete the transition, but, the groups claim, “once again failed to 
address broadcasters’ obligations to serve local communities’ educational, 
informational, civic, minority, disability and emergency information 
needs—or how these services should be disclosed to the public.”

“Congress and the courts have been clear,” said Charles Benton, chairman of 
one of the commenting organizations, the Benton Foundation, “that the 
rights of viewers are paramount in broadcasting. The FCC has worked long 
and hard to help broadcasters make the transition to digital TV technology, 
a transition that could greatly increase the value of their businesses. The 
commission must now do the work to define the benefits of the transition 
for the public, a transition that could make their airwaves more valuable 
to them.”


To read the complete filing, click here.

http://www.benton.org/benton_files/bentonetal_Final.doc


The commenting organizations are: Alliance For Community Media, Benton 
Foundation, Center for Digital Democracy, Chicago Media Action, Citizen 
Advocacy Center, Common Cause, Common Cause Illinois, Common Cause 
Michigan, Common Cause Ohio, Common Cause Wisconsin, Communication Service 
For The Deaf, Consumer Action, Democracy Now, Free Press, Hearing Loss 
Association Of America—New York State, Illinois Campaign For Political 
Reform, Illinois PIRG, League Of Women Voters Of Minnesota, League Of Women 
Voters Of Wisconsin, Michigan Campaign Finance Network, National Hispanic 
Media Coalition, Northern Virginia Resource Center For Deaf And Hard Of 
Hearing Persons, Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund, Sunshine 
Project—University Of Illinois At Springfield, Take Action Minnesota, The 
Campaign Legal Center, United States Conference Of Catholic Bishops, 
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.


================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923  Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu