Public Television strongly supports the digital transition, as we have by word and deed from the very beginning. Public Television stations have spent a decade educating state and local governments, the federal government, local donors and our viewers nationwide about the benefits of digital television and its impact on the citizens we serve. This effort raised over $1.3 billion for the digital conversion of our facilities, enabling Public Television stations to roll out a new generation of consumer friendly channels and services.

 

Public Television is committed to a vibrant transition and our stations are doing all they can to ensure a successful transition. To that end, this past Monday, we announced our commitment to a consumer education campaign that dedicates airtime, as well as print and internet resources. This campaign includes DTV action spots across daytime, prime time and weekend time periods. This campaign represents a $50 million commitment by Public Television and will result in 3 billion impressions on the American public. Additionally, our stations will produce long form programming and disseminate information on their websites and in their program guides. Given Public Television’s very limited number of non-programming minutes, this commitment represents a significant percentage of available time. With adequate resources, Public Television stations and our not-for-profit partners are uniquely positioned to go beyond this on-air commitment to provide direct, on-the-ground educational outreach to the American public to guide them through this transition.

 

We believe that developing and promoting the consumer benefits of DTV is the best way to drive the transition and preserve free, over-the-air television. The message needs to be clear that digital television provides a future of expanded programming and services to benefit all consumers. Simply highlighting the potential loss of service if consumers do nothing will not drive the kind of enthusiasm and momentum needed to ensure a smooth transition that the American public fully supports. No sector of the communications industry has embraced the promise of DTV more robustly than Public Television. An investment in the new generation of digital content and services from Public Television is a very effective way to increase value for the consumer and move the transition forward, as we have seen in other countries, notably the United Kingdom.

 

However, we believe the success of this transition faces unnecessary risk. Time still remains to address and mitigate the factors that are contributing to this risk, but with only 16 months and effectively one federal budget cycle remaining before analog television broadcasting is mandated to end, the window for action is closing. Our latest survey research indicates that more than 50 percent of Americans have no idea that the transition is occurring. Additionally, the majority of recent survey participants said the federal government is on the “wrong track” when it comes to the transition. That distrust is even greater among people who have the least awareness of the transition.

 

When Congress enacted the recent Medicare prescription drug benefit, the Department of Health and Human Services obligated approximately $109 million to advertise, educate and inform beneficiaries about the Medicare Part D program. This equates to approximately $3.11 per senior. In comparison, Congress has set aside only $5 million for DTV transition consumer education, and that is narrowly limited to education about the NTIA set-top box coupon program. This equates to approximately $0.08 per over-the-air individual. This funding is woefully inadequate, especially when one factors into account the $12.5 billion the federal government is expected to receive in revenue, at minimum, from the spectrum auction.

 

We are requesting, as we have since 2005, that the federal government invest meaningfully in a comprehensive consumer education campaign. The analog switch off is not exactly market driven. Despite the enormous sums spent by industry stakeholders on the development and rollout of digital television, there is no dispute that for the past 20 years, the DTV transition has been a matter of industrial policy. Now, the federal government, as a primary beneficiary of the transition, must ensure that the transition is completed successfully. This requires that additional, meaningful federal resources are invested in consumer education. At an absolute minimum, we believe that an additional $20 million in federal funding is needed for community outreach where seniors, non-English speaking people and other vulnerable populations reside.

 

We also believe that it makes enormous sense for the high-technology companies that have pushed relentlessly for a national “hard date” and who will have massive investments in the spectrum at stake to assume some responsibility in educating Americans about the conversion deadline. They need to help us ensure that February 17, 2009 is nothing more than “just another Tuesday.” After all, if the transition is not successful—and multitudes of Americans experience a Tuesday they will never forget—all these investments will be put at great risk.

 

Finally, it is essential that the transition preserves and protects high-quality local media, programming and services. We already have a landmark agreement with the cable industry to carry our new digital signals. We need the same with direct broadcast satellite companies. And it is very important that consumers are protected from harmful interference to their DTV reception by the premature introduction of unlicensed devices into the broadcast band.

 

Even though my remarks today advocate changes in the federal government’s approach to the transition, nothing in my testimony should be interpreted as opposition to the “hard date” to end analog broadcasting. In fact, our recommendations are all intended to increase the odds that the transition, as scheduled, will be successful. Our call for a much greater investment in consumer education is nothing new. For example, in my testimony to the Commerce Committee in July 2005, we supported a hard date and called for a “Y2K-level” effort around consumer awareness for a successful transition. I also pointed to the unsuccessful attempt in the 1960’s and 70’s to convert America to the metric system as a reminder that consumer education campaigns can, and do, fail.

 

So, I want to reiterate Public Television’s support for the hard date to terminate analog broadcasting in February 2009. Stringing out analog broadcasting would be highly detrimental to Public Television. Currently, our stations are spending $32 million annually just for electricity to run their analog transmitters, and another $20 million to maintain them. This is money that should be going to programming and services, not to the power bill and the production of more greenhouse gases.

 

Public Television has supported a successful transition because of the tremendous service opportunities digital television broadcasting has created. DTV is enabling public broadcasters to rollout a new generation of programming and services for the American public and, in effect, reinvent public service media for the digital age. We are already beginning to realize this tremendous potential as local stations provide not only high-definition programming, but multiple new standard definition channels and new datacasting services, all simultaneously.

 

Public Television stations have embraced the opportunities presented by digital, offering new digital channels such as World (an aggregation of public affairs programs), Create (lifestyle and how-to-programs) and V-Me (our first Spanish language Public Television channel). In addition, new localized content is being produced by Public Television stations to meet the interests and needs of their local communities.

 

We are also using DTV to enhance public alert and warning. In April 2007, APTS and the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA began the national deployment of the Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS). Once fully implemented, Public Television’s digital television infrastructure will facilitate the delivery of Presidential emergency alert messages to digital televisions, radios, cell phones, PDAs and computers.

 

This DEAS deployment is a testament to the wide-range of expanded opportunities digital transmission presents, and we look forward to working with Congress to find other opportunities to expand the successful DEAS model in addressing disaster and homeland security needs throughout the country. In particular, I would like to commend Senator DeMint for his leadership in authoring the WARN Act, which laid the groundwork for an expansion of the emergency alert system to commercial mobile service providers.

 

Recent breakthroughs also allow for the delivery of video programming on mobile devices using local stations’ DTV signals. Public Television has been a full partner in developing this new platform, including our membership in the newly-formed Open Mobile Video Coalition.

 

These new digital services are the future of noncommercial, public service media in America, and our stations are eager to phase out our legacy analog services and focus on this digital future.

 

 

Public Television is fully committed to the digital future. However, we are gravely concerned that many of the 21.5 million American TV households who depend upon over-the-air broadcasting to receive our programming will be stranded if we proceed with an under-funded consumer education campaign and an unmanaged transition process.

 

Beginning in November 2006, APTS commissioned the polling firm CENTRIS—which specializes in tracking consumer use of electronics products and services—to conduct scientific surveys of American television consumers to guide us in our transition efforts. I am happy to share our latest findings from the third quarter of 2007 with the Committee this afternoon:

 

 

Based upon this survey data and other findings, we recommend the following actions by Congress and other key players in the DTV transition.

 

1.      Congress must provide a real financial investment in consumer education. It is clear that the Administration will never allocate, nor even request, funding for this basic necessity of a national DTV consumer education campaign. As such, we call on Congress, as we have for infrastructure conversion funds, to allocate resources for consumer education. We are not talking about a new, permanent federal program, but a one-time, substantial outlay in basic public education activities.

 

I have outlined how Public Television, along with our commercial colleagues, will invest significant resources in DTV consumer education. However, our efforts alone will not be enough. I’m not aware of a single Member of Congress who was elected through TV spots alone. Direct mail, town meetings, events at senior centers, phone banks and similar tactics are all necessary components of a successful campaign. The government itself is a major stakeholder and must provide additional funds for a comprehensive grassroots campaign.

 

To fund the appropriate level of activities needed to undertake the campaign, we ask Congress to invest a minimum of $20 million for grassroots consumer education and outreach. These funds would be distributed through our local public stations and our not-for-profit partners in the community.

 

Public Television is perfectly suited to undertake this endeavor, as we have been at the frontline of educating elected officials, corporations and our viewers about the transition for the past decade. Additionally, by virtue of their educational mission to address underserved populations through broadcast media and person-to-person outreach, local Public Television stations have deep and effective ties to the many local institutions, organizations, advocacy groups and service providers that directly communicate with these constituents.

 

Public Television stations also possess an unparalleled universal broadcast coverage (99 percent of American households in analog and currently 96 percent in digital), a local presence in each community, a nonprofit educational mission and a history of effective outreach projects that bring information and guidance to Americans beyond the television screen. It is also clear that Public Television has America’s trust, as reflected by four consecutive years of Roper polls, which ranked Public Television as the most trusted institution in our country.

 

This combined experience and high level of public trust provide us with the expertise and tools necessary for managing a national grassroots consumer education campaign. We are prepared and eager to undergo this campaign, but it will take a commitment by Congress to make adequate investments in consumer education to ensure that no viewer is left behind.

 

2.      We call on Congress to ensure digital carriage of local Public Television stations by direct broadcast satellite (DBS) companies. Localism is at the heart of public broadcasting, but the multitude and diversity of local voices are threatened by a transition to digital that does not guarantee carriage by DIRECTV and EchoStar, which together serve nearly 30 million customers.

 

In FCC filings, both DIRECTV and EchoStar have questioned the Commission’s authority to require satellite carriage of digital stations, and have made clear their preference to carry, at the most, a single SD stream instead of HD and multicast programming. This is unacceptable.

 

In 2005, Public Television negotiated a historic agreement with the National Cable and Telecommunications Association to ensure HD and multicast carriage on major cable systems. In August 2007, we finalized a similar agreement with the American Cable Association, which is pending ratification by ACA members. An agreement has also been reached with Verizon.

 

To better compete with the growing array of digital programming offered by cable systems throughout the country, DBS providers have introduced both national and local digital programming in numerous markets. DIRECTV and EchoStar have aggressive plans to expand the carriage of local digital stations to new markets in the near future.

 

However, in those markets where local digital signals are being carried, neither DIRECTV nor EchoStar is carrying the HD signals of a single Public Television Station. In these markets, both companies are carrying the local HD signals of NBC, CBS, FOX and ABC.

 

Mr. Chairman and Mr. Vice Chairman, there is a gaping hole in guaranteed digital carriage of our local stations when it comes to satellite. Yet, we know that many communities rely on satellite as their only available source of subscription television services and, in some cases, is the only way they can get any local TV service. Without guaranteed carriage of our Public Television stations in the communities served by DBS providers, consumers in those communities are at risk of losing local television service and missing out on the expanded digital services Public Television stations are offering.

 

We would prefer a privately negotiated carriage agreement, but we are running out of time. Although we have made some progress with DIRECTV, we still do not have an agreement. Our negotiations with EchoStar have gone nowhere.

 

In an era when media ownership is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, Public Television stations are the last locally owned and operated media outlets in many communities across America. We call on Congress to help us ensure that these local stations are carried on satellite services, so that all Americans, no matter how they receive their television signals, are able to watch the programming they helped fund.

3.      Similarly, protecting the consumer’s ability to receive high-quality local television transmissions is essential to ensuring a vibrant transition to digital. As the FCC continues to conduct testing of unlicensed devices intended for operation in the broadcast “white spaces,” Congress must conduct vigilant oversight. No unlicensed devices should be deployed until there is certainty that they will avoid harmful interference to DTV broadcast services. The middle of this digital transition is exactly the wrong time to introduce thousands of devices that have the potential to destroy the pictures that consumers see on their DTV enabled sets. The planned transmission of video to mobile devices through DTV transmission raises the requirements for non-interference even higher.

4.      We call on Congress to ensure that the FCC expedites rules for digital translators. Mr. Chairman and Mr. Vice Chairman, there is an untold story when it comes to viewers served by translators. Without channel assignments and final rules for the conversion of these translators, which relay television signals to rural and mountainous areas, many of our stations are in limbo with regard to serving all of their viewers. Some stations are planning on down-converting their signals while others plan on a “flash-cut” to digital, but stations lack clear guidance on how to deliver broadcast signals to viewers dependent on translators. In addition, this is another area where consumer education is critical.

5.      Finally, we urge Congress to continue to support Public Television in creating the new content and services that will drive consumer demand for DTV. We believe that stressing the consumer benefits of DTV is the best way to move the transition forward and preserve free, over-the-air television. An investment in the new generation of digital content and services from public digital television is an extremely effective way to increase consumer benefits, as we have seen in other countries.

 

We applaud Congress for preserving advance funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in the House and Senate Budget Resolutions, as well as the Labor-HHS-Education bill as reported by the Appropriations Committees in both chambers and passed by the House. This has provided the first increase in the regular CPB appropriation in four years. But our funding since 2001 has not kept up with inflation, let alone provided for the new digital content that will help drive the transition for television viewers nationwide. We hope that Congress can continue to grow CPB funding in future years.

 

We also applaud Congress and the members of this Committee in particular for your foresight in recognizing the value of new digital programming and services for your constituents. As such, you made a significant investment in Public Television’s infrastructure that will help to ensure those services are delivered into every home in America. As stations’ digital infrastructure needs ramp down, a new challenge beckons. We call on Congress to make the same commitment to the future of digital services by transitioning its investment in infrastructure into an investment in new digital public broadcasting content.

 

Congress took the first step in this direction by endorsing the American Archive, an initiative to preserve, digitize and make widely available public broadcasting content from the past half century, as well as new digital content created today. The American Archive will ensure that the truly amazing amount of public broadcasting programming that Americans have paid for does not sit locked away, deteriorating, on aging tape and film. This programming represents the most comprehensive chronicle of our nation’s history, our people, our culture and our democracy. It has enormous continuing value to current and future generations and must not be left to fade away.

 

As one of the last locally owned and operated media outlets in the country, we believe that preservation of free, over-the-air television should be a cornerstone public policy goal of Congress and the FCC. Over-the-air broadcasting is essential to the health of this nation’s media marketplace and our democracy. It provides a powerful tool for consumers against the rising cost of cable and satellite. It offers an outlet for local voices in diverse communities throughout the nation. Over-the-air television service is freely available to every American no matter their income level and is not limited by the carriage decisions of cable or satellite. From our perspective, the fundamental policy goal of the digital television transition is preservation of free, over-the-air television, available now in an exciting, new digital format.

 

Mr. Chairman and Mr. Vice Chairman, we appreciate your lifelong support of Public Television and Radio in our country. We also share your desire for a successful digital television transition. Our recommendations today are delivered in the spirit of making this transition successful. I appreciate this opportunity to testify, and I look forward to your questions.