Low-power stations will stop calling NTIA’s digital converter box...
Low-power stations will stop calling NTIA’s digital converter box coupon program a “scam” in DTV transition spots. Community Broadcasters Association President Ron Bruno said “scam” has been removed from PSAs on keepuson.com. House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich.,…
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said in a March 7 letter to the group that he had “concerns” about the word. Bruno said NTIA broke the law by not requiring all boxes to have analog and digital tuners. “We believe that taxpayer dollars are and were being misspent in the coupon program, and the public has been misled,” Bruno wrote Dingell on Thursday. “However, we do not wish the discussion over the merits of the converter box program to be diverted to concern over particular words. We have accordingly, as you requested, removed the use of the word ’scam’ from the keepuson.com website.” The word is being scrubbed from the PSAs, CBA attorney Peter Tannenwald said in an interview. Revised spots will be ready this week, said Tannenwald. But CBA won’t make “promises about other words” that might be used in PSAs, “and we don’t know how many stations ever ran the old spots,” he added. Bruno told lawmakers that implementing an FCC proposal to let Class A low-power TV stations get full-power status as they convert to digital wouldn’t hurt current full-power broadcasters. Dingell asked about the PSAs and Class A stations after Bruno testified to the committee (CD Feb 14 p1). FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has not gotten colleagues’ support for a notice that would help Class A stations get full-power status. “A Class A station could be required to demonstrate that no pre-existing station would receive prohibited interference” when upgrading to digital, Bruno wrote. “The existing interference rules for Class A stations are no less strict than those applicable among full-power stations.”