Boucher Floor Statement on Delay of the Digital Television Transition

February 4, 2009

I yield to myself such time as I may consume.

          We are now less than two weeks from the February 17 digital television transition date, and millions of households remain unprepared.

          On January 22, the Nielsen Company, a widely respected source that reports on TV viewing, reported that 6.5 million households are totally unprepared for the transition. That represents 5.7 percent of the TV viewing public.

          These homes do not have cable or satellite service. They rely on antennas to receive over the air TV broadcasts. On February 17, as matters now stand, they will lose all TV service.

          If almost 6 percent of the nation's households lose all TV service, I think most people would declare the digital TV transition to be a failure.

          There are 3.7 million requests for converter box coupons pending at the Department of Commerce, and since January 4, the converter box program has been out of money. These requests, therefore, cannot be honored.

          And the waiting line for coupons is rapidly growing. On Friday of last week, the number of requests was 3.3 million. Over the weekend it grew to 3.7 million.

          We can expect more large increases in the number of requests in the coming weeks.

          It's clear that the only way to avoid a massive disruption affecting 5.7 percent of the TV viewing public is to delay the transition and provide the funding to assure that, when it occurs, it occurs smoothly.

          In recognition of that reality, the Senate has now on two occasions unanimously passed legislation to delay the transition until June 12.

          The most recent unanimously passed Senate bill moving the date to June 12 is the measure now before the House.

          My friends on the other side of the aisle will argue that if more money were provided for the program in the coming week that the problems would be solved, and they have put forward a proposal to do so.

          But the provision of more money now without moving the transition date would not avoid viewer disruption.

          It takes one week to process 1.6 million coupon requests, and so in the 13 days before the transition, the backlog of 3.7 million requests could not be processed even if more money for the program is provided.

          Beyond processing the requests, more time is required for mailing the coupons and for the TV viewer to redeem the coupons for converter boxes at the stores.

          Beyond the converter box program which is at a standstill, more resources will be needed to staff the FCC's call centers where waiting times are very long, calls are frequently disconnected and it is very difficult to speak to a live technical service representative.

          Only by delaying the transition and utilizing the $650 million contained in the economic recovery bill to address these problems can massive viewer disruption be avoided.

          The 4 month delay has been endorsed by a broad range of organizations representing the very parties who could be potentially disadvantaged by the delay.

          Representing the public safety community, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Police Chiefs, and the National Emergency Number Association have endorsed the delay. They recognize the enormous risk to public safety that cutting off all TV service and its emergency information to 5.7 percent of the viewing public would pose.

          Representing local broadcasters, the NAB and the major networks have endorsed the delay.

          Speaking for the purchasers of commercial wireless spectrum, both Verizon and AT&T have endorsed the delay. They are the two major winning bidders in the government spectrum auction.

          Consumers Union and the Acting Chairman of the FCC have also endorsed the delay.

          This will be a one time delay. Teamed with the stimulus appropriation, the delay will be sufficient to assure a smooth DTV transition.

          I reserve the balance of my time.