U.S. Government Delivers Ultimatum To DTV Broadcasters

A high-ranking U.S. official delivered an ultimatum to TV companies and consumer electronics makers across the country, saying if they fail to resolve a standards dispute that has delayed the roll-out of new digital TV sets, they will face law. (See January 10ís News Story - CEA Accepts FCC Chairmanís Challenge To Resolve Remaining DTV Issues.)Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman William Kennard, speaking at the 2000 Consumer Electronics Show here, gave the two sides until April to develop a way for new digital TV sets to connect with cable systems.""The FCC has exercised restraint in this matter. Your time and our patience is running out,"" Kennard said.""The commission has tried to let you solve this problem. But so far you have not finished the job. The American public will not let the commission wait much longer for you to agree on standards, and the law gives the commission clear responsibility to act if you do not."" he added.Digital technology allows broadcasters to air movie-quality, high-definition shows or send as many as six ordinary shows over a single TV channel. The FCC has mandated that TV broadcasters, set makers and network operators move toward new digital standards.But the transition has been slow for many reasons, in part because TV set makers have not reached agreement with cable operators over an expensive piece of interface hardware that attaches to either TV sets or cable TV set-top boxes.The argument boils down to who should pay for the high cost of adding the interface, the set-top boxes or TV set makers. As a result, none of those televisions can be plugged into cable, the medium through which most Americans still get their programming.Broadcasters are also worried about protecting digital programs - capable of being reproduced in nearly exact copies - from being illegally copied and pirated overseas.But Kennard noted the industry has been promising since 1994 to resolve these issues, and he pointed to the makers of DVD players who were able to solve their differences over standards and copyright issues, then come up with cost efficient products.The first high-definition television began selling in late 1998, and more than 100 TV stations reaching 50 percent of the American people now offer the option of receiving high-quality digital TV signals. But the pictures are eroded through cable converters to quality not much better than traditional analog TVs, Kennard said.To address the problem, the chairman said he had directed FCC to draft proposed rules on compatibility standards and would move toward making those rules law if digital television is not moving forward by April.