President Clinton Wants Broadcasters To Pay For Analog TV Channels

A Clinton administration proposal, buried in the Presidentís $1.77 trillion budget for 2000, calls for nationís 1,200-plus commercial TV stations to pay a total of $200 million in annual fees to rent their existing analog television channels until they switch to digital TV and give up the analog channels.The revenue distributed to federal, state and local governments would be earmarked to upgrade communication systems used by fire, police, emergency rescue and other public safety agencies. Past legislative efforts to impose any new fees on television stations have been killed by broadcasters. Aided by Republican Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Representative Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana), Chairman of the House Telecommunications Committee, the proposal faces potential defeat as it would require Congress to enact a new law.Under the Presidentís proposal, when broadcasters complete their switch to digital television in 2006 and, as required, return their analog channels to the government, a broadcaster will no longer be required to pay the fee.National Association of Broadcastersí Edward Fritts accused the administration of attempting to break the deal between broadcasters and the government. ""The Clinton administration proposal would jeopardize a public-private partnership between government and free, over-the-air local broadcasters that dates back to the 1934 Communications Act,"" he said. ""The deal is Öthat broadcasters provide community interest and public service programming in exchange for a small slice of the spectrum."" Not all Republications in Congress have opposed imposing new fees on broadcasters. There are a few exceptions. Senator McCain and former Senator Bob Dole called for an auction of the digital television frequencies in 1996, saying that giving the spectrum away free was an example of government welfare. Other legislators feel that the public was let down with the FCC failing to require full high-definition television broadcasting using the new digital television frequencies. [This topic was covered extensively in articles and editorials on HDTV, which appeared in various past issues of Widescreen Review. - Editor] A number of consumer advocacy groups wanting more money to go to public broadcasting are supporting the Presidentís proposal. At the heart of this issue is the examination of broadcastersí responsibilities in the information age, the subject of the Gore Commission.