Some Stations Can’t Switch to DTV; FCC Members Fear More
About two percent of all full-power TV stations can’t switch to digital service and have stopped broadcasting or will do so by June 12, FCC officials told Wednesday’s meeting. Among the 35 stations, 18 won’t transmit in digital for financial reasons, said Media Bureau Associate Chief Eloise Gore. All but one are owned by a bankrupt company, she said. Another 16 stations have digital construction issues that she expects to be resolved by year’s end, and one has a permit pending, Gore told reporters later. No other problems involving the 900-plus stations that are expected to switch to digital next Friday were identified at the meeting (CD June 3 p3).
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The three FCC commissioners said they're concerned about the situation. They sought extra money from the Commerce Department so queries about the transition to 888-CALL-FCC can be handled in a timely manner, before callers hang up. FCC Chief Information Officer Andrew Martin estimated the FCC needs another $10 million for that to occur, in addition to its $30 million budget to field inquiries.
The FCC Tuesday requested Commerce Secretary Gary Locke give it another $10 million for the agency’s DTV call center, a commission spokesman said late Wednesday. Locke has approved the transfer of funds, said an NTIA spokeswoman. Earlier Wednesday, NTIA official Bernadette McGuire-Rivera said Locke would need to notify the House and Senate Appropriations committees that the department will dip into the $90 million allotted by Congress for DTV education to help pay for the FCC’s phone bank. Commissioner Robert McDowell asked her when Locke will approve the request and send it to Congress, which must be notified five days in advance of the money being transferred. “That is way above my pay grade,” replied McGuire-Rivera, an NTIA associate administrator. “A call wouldn’t hurt.”
Commissioners asked more broadcasters to run so-called analog nightlight operations so viewers in all markets can get emergency information and learn about DTV via analog broadcasts for up to 30 days after June 12. At least one TV station in markets with 69 percent of homes in the 192 markets that haven’t already gone all-digital will run such operations, Gore told the meeting. Viewers who won’t have access to such a service are “a pretty substantial amount of the population,” said Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. “I would beg people to do it.”
Broadcast officials said they're asking more stations to participate. “We literally are going through station by station to urge participation in this program,” said President David Donovan of the Association for Maximum Service Television. In some markets, there are “no options available” for such service. President Larry Sidman of the Association for Public Television Stations said he'd see if more members would run nightlight operations, although many have already terminated analog operations.
Adelstein and McDowell told reporters they fear more stations will follow those owned by Equity Media Holdings, owner of 17 stations not making the transition. “I'm concerned whenever any broadcast station goes dark or shuts its operations down,” which is “a loss for the American people,” said acting Chairman Michael Copps. An executive at Equity Media, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, didn’t reply to a message. Three of its stations that lack full digital facilities are Fox affiliates, in Butte, Great Falls and Missoula, Mont. The rest are affiliated with non-Big Four networks and spread through the U.S.
“It’s almost a perfect storm for the broadcasting industry” because of the recession and the cost to switch to digital, Adelstein said. “I'm not sure it’s the last we are going to hear” of such news “unless this economy turns around very quickly.” McDowell fears “this is just the very beginning of some bad news coming over the horizon” since TV stations get about 30 percent of ad revenue from auto dealers, and thousands of the retailers are closing: “I think this will cause a new wave of pain for broadcasters across the country.”