 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Digital Television: A Private Sector Perspective on the Transition
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
Mrs. Beth Courtney
Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. I am Beth Courtney, president and CEO of Louisiana Public Broadcasting and the chairman of the Association of America's Public Televisions (APTS) Board of Trustees. I testify today on behalf of APTS and its member stations. Thank you for holding this hearing today, Mr. Chairman, on the status of the rollout of digital broadcast services. Public broadcasters historically have been the leaders in using new technologies for education and public service. We view digital technology no differently. We stand ready to harness this new technology to revolutionize how we fulfil our core mission - to use the media to educate all Americans. Public television stations are committed to the digital transition and have made substantial progress toward meeting the May 2003 construction deadline. Today, two years before the deadline:
Public television stations are committed to using their digital channels to deliver non-commercial educational programs and services to their local communities. Virtually every public station:
But public television cannot complete the first step of this transition or deliver this new educational content without federal support in two critical areas.
First, public broadcasters are seeking a federal contribution of $699 million over five years - to be matched by state and local funding - to help public television and radio meet the staggering $1.8 billion cost of the digital transition.
Second, we seek assurance from the FCC or Congress that all the multicast and interactive services on our digital signals will actually reach the American viewers, irrespective of whether they receive their local television over the air, by satellite or via cable. Harnessing Digital Technology to Serve the Public With roots going back to the earliest days of radio and television, America's public broadcasters have played a unique role in a media industry that is otherwise built on consumer advertising and mass market entertainment. Into the 1960s, as television evolved into three major networks and a handful of independent commercial stations, publicly funded noncommercial television provided the one clear alternative, focusing on education and culture, public affairs and the performing arts. In 1967 Congress passed the Public Broadcasting Act as an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934. With this legislation Congress laid the cornerstone for the future of noncommercial educational broadcasting. Public television's core mission will not change in a digital world. We will build on our track record of providing the best programming and services to educate and enlighten audiences. We also will continue to be leaders in using new technology for the public interest. From satellite delivery of broadcast signals, to the development of stereo broadcasting; from closed captioning and descriptive video services, to video streaming and cutting edge interactive television trials, public broadcasters have been inventors, innovators and blenders of technologies to serve the public.
For well over a decade, public television has guided the development, testing and implementation of digital broadcasting. While digital broadcasting is still a developing technology, one thing is clear - it is our future - and we wholeheartedly embrace its opportunities. In a single digital channel, stations can transmit a high definition program stream or multicast four or more channels of standard definition program streams simultaneously along with a standard definition program stream. Concurrent with these video streams, stations can broadcast huge amounts of data, text, graphics, audio and visual information in seconds. The data can be used interactively to enhance the learning experience of the program, provide a continuous flow of information (e.g., weather, emergency warnings, program guides), or be downloaded for other educational purposes (e.g., course materials, teacher and student guides, and teacher training materials). Public television is committed to use digital technologies to transform the way we learn - by providing the American public with educational services how they want them, when they want them and where they want them - in homes, schools, childcare facilities, and workplaces across America. Multicast Digital Services - Unlocking Public Television's Public Service Mission Since receiving their digital channels, public television stations have been engaged in systemwide and station level planning. In 1997, public broadcasting put forward a comprehensive plan for its digital conversion to the Administration and Congress. We set four broad systemwide goals for the use of digital technology - goals that are founded on fully utilizing the multicasting capability of the digital technology to expand and enhance services. 1. To make the full complement of Ready to Learn services available to every child, parent and caregiver in America. The PBS Ready to Learn Service is currently meeting two national education goals: it teaches basic reading skills and it helps prepare more children for school success. Its 133 participating stations cover over 94% of the country. In the past three years, RTL public television stations have trained 370,000 parents and 250,000 teachers and caregivers, affecting approximately 6 million children.
2. To expand the reach of public television's K-12 educational programs and services by making them universally available to all schools. 70% of public television licensees provide K-12 programming in math, science, arts and humanities. These services are enhanced by: PBS TeacherSource, an online K-12 teacher resource with line lesson plans, teacher guides and activities, correlated to more than 90 national and state standards; and, PBS Teacherline, online modules to enhance the learning and teaching of K-12 mathematics.
3. To increase the reach of post secondary telecourses so that they are universally available to all adult learners. Collectively, public television stations are the largest source of post secondary telecourses in the nation. PBS Adult Learning Service (ALS) supports station-college partnerships that offer distance learning credit-bearing telecourses, enrolling more than 500,000 students in 1999-2000. GED on TV has enabled more than two million adults in five years to earn their high school equivalency from home. The estimated positive economic impact of these more productive workers exceeds $12 billion.
4. To expand our commitment to serving the un-served and under-served populations in our country, those who because of economic, geographic, physical, cultural or language barriers have been left behind by the commercial marketplace. Public Broadcasting has pioneered the development of open and closed captioning for the deaf and descriptive video services and reading services for the blind or visually impaired. Stations like WYBE, Philadelphia and WNVC, Fairfax provide programming in multiple languages serving a variety of different ethnic cultures. I am pleased to report today that our stations throughout the country have turned those systemwide goals into concrete and very bold and exciting service plans tailored to their local communities. APTS maintains an interactive clearinghouse of stations' plans for digital services. Our data show that virtually every public television station in the country has developed digital service plans to meet these and other goals. The centerpiece of virtually every plan is the delivery of multicast services with a strong focus on education.
As WETA will demonstrate today, some of our digital stations are already broadcasting multicast program streams. Others are laying the groundwork for multicast broadcast services by developing digital content for Internet, cable, satellite, and DVD distribution. Virtually all stations are aggressively building new coalitions with old and new partners - schools, colleges, libraries, museums, and cultural, government, and civic groups - to utilize digital technology to meet critical community needs. PTV Digital Service Plans -- Creating Local Solutions for National Priorities
Realizing National Educational Goals on a Local Level: While virtually every public television station plans to deliver one or more formal educational multicast channel, the specific educational services are tailored to meet local community needs. Florida public television stations have promised the state legislature that they will collectively devote a multicasting stream to the Florida Knowledge Network in return for digital funding. This statewide educational network will serve as a teacher training resource, linking Florida's classrooms with direct access to the highest quality programming, electronic field trips, and distance learning. Originating from the Florida State Department of Education and school systems in 17 counties, the network will tailor programming schedules and curriculum (e.g., GED, math, science, English, art, music, and foreign language) for localized use.
New York's public television stations plan to dedicate one of their multicast streams to an educational service called the Empire State Channel. Developed with the state Department of Education, the Empire State Channel will feature teacher training, vocational instruction and public affairs programming. Among the goals of the Empire Channel are to support such state initiatives as meeting New York's scholastic standards and goals, expanding GED on TV and other lifelong learning programs, and developing job skills for the transition from welfare to work.
Kansas, Missouri and Illinois public television stations, in partnership with 350 school districts, have developed "Chalkwaves," an Internet-based educational service designed to meet three critical needs of the teachers in those states: high-quality, standards-linked instructional aids, the training needed to use these aids effectively and the professional development needed to earn required state credits. Chalkwaves, which currently serves more than 30,000 teachers and over 350,000 students through the Internet, is laying the foundation for a digital multicast service. Providing Unserved and Underserved with Access to Digital Technology: Today, public television stations, through their nationwide system of transmitters and translators, serve 99 percent of American households with an analog signal. Public television stations that serve rural communities with a network of analog translators are ideally positioned to bring the benefits of broadband digital services to the most rural and remote areas of this country. A recent study by Idaho Public Television shows that one-fourth of the Idaho residents would not be able to receive high-speed data service even if their current facilities were DSL enabled. In contrast, Idaho PTV, if its existing system of transmitters and translators were converted to digital, could reach two-thirds of these households with broadband digital services. With requested federal support for the transition of public television translators to digital, public stations will bring multicast and data services to those geographically isolated. KAET in Phoenix plans to partner with KUAT in Tucson to dedicate one or two multicasting channels to feeding math, science, geography and other educational programming to 300 schools throughout the geographically diverse state. Directed by the stations and funded by the state Department of Education and Arizona State University, programming will include short, 15-minute clips that relate directly to course materials, and teacher training. Program segments will be accompanied by curriculum guides, instructional materials, and planning booklets that can be downloaded to computers in the classrooms. These services are intended to reach students in the farthest corners of Arizona, students who are unable to be linked via telephone and fiber optic lines.
KNME in Albuquerque is considering leasing part of its digital spectrum to the New Mexico Department of Education to facilitate the delivery of educational materials to the state's K-12 schools. The station will position itself as the state's virtual classroom, providing curricular support and teacher training opportunities for viewers separated by hundreds of miles. This arrangement would allow the Department of Education to help with the costs of digital conversion. Public television stations also plan to use the multicast capability to serve populations under-served because of cultural, language or economic barriers. KBDI in Denver plans to launch a Latino Initiative Channel. This channel would feature programming for Denver's Spanish-speaking and bilingual community and will emphasize news, public affairs, and social and cultural events. Potential partners include local community service organizations, schools, commercial Spanish-language broadcasters, and public service agencies.
WNYE in Brooklyn and WYBE in Philadelphia plan to provide multicast foreign language and international channels to serve the international residents in their respective cities. The WNYE multicast channel will feature programming in at least 12 different languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Polish, and Eastern European languages. Digital multicast will allow WYBE, which currently serves more than ten ethnic communities in Philadelphia, to further expand the reach of its ethnic language programming. Both stations will offer public affairs, local news, international news and cultural programming from countries around the world.
To meet the needs of elderly viewers, WHYY in Philadelphia plans to create a Home Companion Service aimed at the growing population of aging Americans. Although designed to appeal to all members of the senior community, it will be directed primarily toward the homebound for whom activities and contact with the outside world are limited. Partnering with Local Institutions to Solve Local Community Problems: A key characteristic of public television's digital planning is localism. In an age of increasing media consolidation, public television stations remain the only locally owned, locally operated television service in many communities. Consequently, several PTV stations are planning "local" channels, focusing on specific community needs. Vermont Public Television plans a Vermont Public Service Channel, which would provide regular coverage of the state legislature, important legislative committee hearings and other statehouse-related programs, as well as local government town meetings and debates. Additional programming might include call-in programs with the Vermont congressional delegation, travel and tourism information, and other local news and public affairs programming.
KEET in Eureka, California, plans to partner with local non-profits, arts organizations and social service agencies to develop and broadcast programming for a North Coast Channel. This programming would include documentaries and history specials specific to that region of the state. The North Coast Channel will also feature collaborations with hospitals, arts councils, employment agencies, and the chamber of commerce. These partnerships would yield shows focusing on health care, arts performances, employment opportunities, and highlights of tourist attractions. Realizing the Promise of Digital: A True Public-Private Partnership Public television stations can only realize their plans to harness digital technology to enhance educational opportunity for all Americans with federal support.
Public broadcasters have been aggressively seeking financial support from a range of public and private sources, foundations and corporations, loyal viewers and entrepreneurial endeavors, and state and local government partners. To date, stations have raised more than $381 million from state and local government partners; and more than $190 million through capital campaigns and individuals in their communities. While this show of support from local sources is vitally important, it cannot replace federal funding. In most state legislatures, the DTV funding was provided with an expectation that it would be matched by federal funds. Some state funding, in fact, is conditional upon a federal contribution.
Likewise, public broadcasters, since their initial request in 1997, have sought authorization and annual federal appropriations to support their digital transition. While there was bipartisan recognition of the need for federal support, the federal government to date has only made a modest contribution to fund public television's digital transition. We acknowledge and appreciatethe leadership of Chairman Tauzin in introducing H.R. 2384, the Public Broadcasting Act of 1999, which authorized digital funding through PTFP and CPB, and the previous administration's inclusion of a five-year, $450 million package in its budget. Yet PTFP grants for digital television equipment totaled only $19 million in FY 1999 and 2000; and it is yet to be determined what portion of the FY 2001 PTFP appropriation of $43.5 million will be allocated for digital transmission equipment. This lack of adequate support is particularly threatening given the government's mandate to build DTV facilities by 2003 and to switch from analog to digital by 2006. The federal government must play its historic leadership role in underwriting a portion of public broadcasting's digital transition. The government's failure to make this investment will have direct consequences. Millions of Americans may be deprived of the enormous educational promise of digital television. Many of the smaller and rural stations may be unable to make the transition at all.
The public broadcasting industry has updated its costs for the digital transition. Balancing reductions for the stations currently on the air against additions for increased costs, public broadcasters estimate the total costs of conversion for both television and radio at $1.8 billion. Public broadcasters are seeking $699 million over five years in federal assistance, 48 percent of the total estimated conversion costs. (This would cover television and radio transmitters and translators, and minimal production equipment at each station, supplemented by more fully equipped regional production centers.) We are seeking all of these digital funds through the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) at the Department of Commerce.
5 Year Authorization Request
There is an immediate and urgent need for a significant commitment of digital funding from Congress this year. A total of $256 million is needed for FY 2002 and $183 million in FY 2003 to allow stations to attempt to comply with the FCC's 2003 construction deadline. Even aggressive front-loading of funds would require the FCC to grant some waivers from the deadline. The FY 2003 PTFP grants will not be issued in time to allow stations to meet the 2003 deadline. Moreover, equipment manufacturers and engineering firms simply cannot handle the broadcasters' backlogged demand for equipment and tower construction. Included in the request is $33 million (to be allocated in FY 2004 and 2005) to cover the estimated $68 million cost of converting the public television translators throughout the country. These translators are critical vehicles to provide broadband digital services to rural and under-served communities. On behalf of our public broadcast stations, we seek quick authorization of the five-year digital funding request as well as reauthorization of the stations annual operating funds through CPB. Realizing the Promise of Digital: Supportive Federal Policies The Commission's recent must carry decision - rendered in the final hours of Chairman Kennard's tenure, with little deliberation and virtually no opportunity for industry input - would, if left intact, nullify the public's opportunity to benefit from the digital services that public television stands ready to provide.
We have serious concerns about many elements of the decision, but two are particularly disturbing: the FCC's determination that cable operators are required to carry only one multicast digital channel of a digital-only station; and the FCC's "tentative decision" that dual analog/digital carriage is unconstitutional, notwithstanding its acknowledgement that it needs further information.
We ask Congress to clarify that the FCC has discretion under the 1992 Cable Act to require carriage of all multicast digital program streams, and, if necessary, clarify that Congress mandated dual analog/digital carriage in the 1992 Cable Act.
Clarify Primary Video: If allowed to stand, the FCC's narrow definition of "primary video" - that is entitled to carriage - as only a single multicast digital stream would have broad ranging public policy consequences: § It would undermine public television stations' plans to provide a wide range of multicast educational services to their communities. Although the primary video decision applies only to stations that are operating in a digital-only mode (which will generally occur only after the transition), it will have an immediate crippling effect on public television's plans to optimize the educational potential of multicast services.
· It would undermine local stations' ability to raise funds for the digital transition. Stations' efforts to raise funds from state and local government entities and from their local communities are founded on their commitments to deliver multiple educational services on a universal basis to their states and local communities.
· It would threaten the viability of free local digital public television. Local stations depend on viewer support to survive, therefore carriage of a public station's full range of non-duplicative digital program services is essential.
· It would undermine rather than facilitate public stations' negotiations with cable MSO's for the voluntary carriage of digital signals. As such, it is contrary to the Commission's and Congress' stated goals of facilitating voluntary carriage agreements.
· It would frustrate the delivery of local public affairs programming, children's programming, programming related to the political process, programming designed to serve diverse segments of local communities, and programming fully accessible to persons with disabilities.
· It would prematurely build in a regulatory disincentive to the development of the fullest and best use of digital technology, and
· It would delay the speedy transition to digital broadcast, and the return of the analog spectrum, by limiting access to multiple digital services that will encourage consumer acceptance of digital technology.
We welcome the support of members of Congress on two alternative fronts. First, we ask Congress to clarify, in the context of public television's petition for FCC reconsideration on this issue, that the FCC has discretion under the statute to interpret the "primary video" carriage requirement in the 1992 Cable Act to include all free over the air multicast digital streams. Second, in the event the FCC declines to reconsider its decision, we ask Congress for legislation clarifying that "primary video," as applied to carriage of digital signals, consists of all free over-the-air multicast digital streams that can be delivered within a public broadcaster's 6 MHz digital channel.
Clarify Dual/Analog Carriage Requirement: We also believe that the FCC's "tentative decision" - that carriage of both a station's analog and digital signals during the transition is unconstitutional - is unwarranted and will have serious unintended public policy consequences. The Commission stated that it needed additional and updated information in the record before reaching a final decision. Yet it reached a "tentative decision" that cannot be reviewed in the courts, and that unnecessarily and prematurely slants the debate on the future of must carry protection in favor of the cable operators.
Cable carriage of broadcasters' digital signals is the only viable means for public television stations to get their digital broadcast services to the public during the transition. Cable serves 70% of American households or about 177 million viewers, and will be the first to reach any significant penetration of digital services in American homes. Cable operators predict that by 2006 they will be providing digital services to approximately 42% of their subscriber households.
In contrast, over-the-air reception of digital signals will not, as a practical matter, be available to the public for some time into the transition. As other witnesses will testify, a range of factors can be cited for the delay in the rollout of digital broadcast services, including: poor receiver performance; lack of receiver penetration in the marketplace; lack of digital reception capability in receivers; lack of compatibility between cable boxes and digital receivers; lack of industry agreement on copyright protections; and, tower, equipment and funding issues that have delayed construction of digital broadcast facilities. The reality is that cable carriage of all free over-the-air program streams on cable systems during the digital transition is essential to ensure that millions of Americans have access to the full range of multicast educational services public television stations plan provide.
We plan to provide the Commission with the additional information it requests on cable capacity and other issues. We also plan to show that a dual analog/digital carriage requirement can be tailored for public television stations in a manner that serves important government interests without unduly burdening cable operators' First Amendment interests. We will keep members of Congress informed as we proceed with our efforts to secure an appropriate transitional carriage provision before the FCC. Although we believe that Congress already clearly mandated dual carriage in the 1992 Cable Act, we may be returning to Congress to seek legislation requiring cable carriage of digital broadcast signals during the transition. Other Digital Policy Issues: In addition to ensuring that cable subscribers have access to public television digital channels - both during the transition and beyond -- Congress can take other important steps to speed the transition and to help resolve the outstanding issues that are impeding its rollout. Our proposed actions on these issues is outlined in the attached August, 16, 2000, letter to Chairman Tauzin, which was sent in response the Chairman's question as to what actions Congress could take to speed up the transition.
Conclusion
For more than 30 years Congress has invested wisely in public broadcasting. We now have a strong system of public television stations that reaches 99 percent of American households, giving viewers tools to improve and enrich their lives. The public service promise of new digital technology is enormous:
But realizing this potential and remaining a viable service provider in the digital age is fully dependent on a renewed federal investment and federal policies that insure access to all digital services. Public television stands ready with service plans, matching state and local grants, and community-based content partners to fully utilize this technology for public service. Investing in public television's digital conversion and providing for cable carriage of our nation's public television stations would make digital service universally available, support models for new and innovative digital programs and services, boost the quality and quantity of digital programs, and accelerate the digital transition. Failure to invest in the public television's digital transition will not only miss this opportunity to support public television's digital leadership, but will fundamentally jeopardize public television's future viability.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
