NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

Energy and Commerce Committee Highlights Digital Television Border Problems

Tells FCC, NTIA to Target Education Efforts

Washington, DC – Key Members of Congress today called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to pay careful heed to the unique problems that homes in areas along the U.S.-Mexican border will face during the U.S. transition to digital television (DTV).

In letters to the FCC and the NTIA, prominent Democratic Members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce said that the agencies need to pay close attention to the unique challenges Mexican border regions will face in the DTV transition. After the digital television transition (DTV), on February 17, 2009, most Mexican stations will continue broadcasting only in analog format. Many Spanish-speaking U.S. households near the Mexican border watch both U.S. and Mexican television. This could mean confusion when U.S. television stations stop analog broadcasts and transmit only in digital, while their Mexican counterparts continue analog transmissions.

The letter calls on the FCC and NTIA to target consumer education to border areas. The letter to the Commission also says that consumers should be reminded of the importance of receiving public safety information from U.S. over-the-air broadcasters.

Both letters were signed by Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI), the Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), the Chairman of the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, as well as Hilda L. Solis, Charles A. Gonzalez, Gene Green, and Lois Capps, all Members of the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee.

Letter to FCC »
Letter to NTIA »

-30-