FCC Seeks Price Quotes for DTV Event Planning, Consumer Help
The FCC is seeking estimates on costs to hire event planners to organize DTV outreach events attended by commissioners and senior staffers, and to have civic groups install DTV converter boxes and otherwise help consumers. A request for quotations, due Oct. 21, “seeks grass root organizations” and community groups “including faith-based organization location” offers to help people get and install converters and other DTV equipment. Another RFQ, with a closing date of Monday, seeks 10 event planners to organize town-hall style meetings, workshops and other events for regulators to attend in 82 areas where the FCC is stepping up viewer education (CD Aug 19 p1).
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Agency officials told us that contracts may be funded by the $20 million Congress appropriated to the commission for DTV education. FCC members have taken to the road to visit large cities and markets where more than 15 percent of households rely on terrestrial TV, an effort Commissioner Robert McDowell said has been fruitful. Having community- based groups field phone calls from nearby residents with questions about the transition seems a good way to meet the “set of unique challenges” posed by each market, McDowell said. Some of the $20 million could be used to train volunteers to handle DTV equipment and other queries, he added. “I would hope we have lots of volunteers … . There are a number of things we need to do” to educate people in the U.S.
In addition to staffing “help centers” and offering converter box “installation assistance,” the FCC seeks help after the Feb. 17 full-power broadcaster analog cutoff, said the RFQ. “Based on the experience of other countries that have gone through the transition, it appears that a large amount of activity takes place two to four weeks before the transition deadline and then two weeks after the deadline.” Assistance should last through March 2009, the agency said.
A Sept. 29 Q&A for potential vendors indicated the agency isn’t publicizing a contract amount. “The solicitation is anticipated to yield a variety of business options which may be all inclusive of the total requirement or specialization of some aspects,” it said. “Multiple awards are anticipated as a result of this RFQ” and contracts will be chosen a day after technical evaluation ends, it said, without being more specific. An FCC spokeswoman declined to provide further details on the RFQs or how the FCC will spend the $20 million in DTV funds.
The event planners request said affairs should focus on those “most vulnerable in the transition.” They include the elderly, rural and tribal land residents, disabled, poor people, minorities and non-English speakers. “In the weeks leading up to each event, there will be extensive planning to ensure that consumers are aware and can take advantage of the information and assistance offered by the Commission,” said the RFQ. Event planners may arrange interviews with local media and distribute public service announcements, publications and other materials on DTV, it said. Planners should find co-sponsors for meetings and “ancillary activities for commissioners and staff to attend to help promote the transition,” it said. As part of the visits, the agency will encourage radio and TV stations to air PSAs on DTV, it said.
McDowell is telling broadcasters he visits they should make their own “infomercials” on how to set up converters and what kinds of antennas to use to receive digital signals, he said. “There seems to be a high degree of awareness that the DTV transition is going to happen. However we need to pivot on our message and start giving folks the nuts and bolts information they need” to select and install converters, antennas and other gear, said McDowell.
Station executives that McDowell met during his travels “are really grateful to have these suggestions, which they're not really getting elsewhere,” he added. “So thus far I find this consumer awareness blitz very beneficial -- I just hope folks can execute properly.” Noting the “tremendous challenge” of the transition, Commissioner Michael Copps is pressing for a “comprehensive approach” to education because “we're still far from confident in how seamless that transition is going to be,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”