Telecommunications: Many Broadcasters Will Not Meet May 2002 Digital Television Deadline.

摘要

The transition of broadcast television stations throughout the United States from analog to digital television (DTV) technologies is under way. This transition to digital technologies was sought by many broadcasters and was mandated by Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). At some point, the analog signals are to be discontinued, leaving television stations to continue broadcasting only in digital format. FCC established 2006 as the target date for ending analog transmissions and this was later codified by Congress. At the present time, at least 24 percent of all commercial television stations are broadcasting a digital signal. At least 113 of the 119 broadcast stations that were mandated to be broadcasting a digital signal by 1999 are doing so. In addition, at least 185 of the remaining 1,121 commercial television stations that are to be broadcasting in digital by May 1, 2002, are on the air with a digital signal. As for the progress of transitioning stations, we conducted interviews with representatives from a few transitioning stations and found them to be in various stages of building the DTV stations. Once on the air, 74 percent of current DTV stations reported providing some amount of high definition contentan average of 23 hours per week for those stations showing some high definition content. However, current DTV stations reported that they perceive little interest in DTV among consumers in their viewing areas at the present time.