COMMERCE DEPUTY SECRETARY SAM BODMAN AWARDS $399,853 TO HELP REMOVE STANDARD RELATED TRADE BARIERS AND GROW
AMERICAN JOBS

Commerce Deputy Secretary Sam Bodman today awarded $399,853 to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) Forum to help fund its Hemispheric Digital Television (DTV) Initiative. The awarded funds are expected to help generate nearly $7.8 billion in exports to Latin America and create close to 156,000 jobs for the American people by 2014.

“The Department of Commerce is pleased to partner with the ATSC Forum on this project,” said Bodman. “This partnership reflects the Bush Administration’s commitment to opening new markets, creating and sustaining high-quality jobs, and encouraging the right conditions for American businesses to innovate, compete and prosper.”

The money will help give ATSC Forum the maximum leverage in encouraging policy makers and industry leaders in Latin America on the adoption of its standards. It will also help increase exports from small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. television industry, including broadcasters, software producers, and manufacturers of transmission equipment, receivers, semiconductors and other components.

DTV standards decisions are expected in Brazil, Mexico and Chile in late 2003 or early 2004. Standards are key to U.S. international competitiveness. In March 2003, Commerce Secretary Don Evans launched a Standards Initiative to help break down standards related trade barriers. The Initiative is a response to U.S. industry concerns that foreign standards and technical regulation issues are among the greatest challenges to expanding exports.

The funds awarded to ATSC Forum are made available through the Commerce Department=s Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP), a public-private partnership developed to help small- and medium-sized U.S. firms expand exports that support jobs. The Market Development Cooperator Program is a competitive matching awards program that builds partnerships by providing federal assistance to non-profit organizations involved in export promotion.

For more information about the Market Development Cooperator Program, please visit www.export.gov/mdcp.