Chairman Barton made the following statement:

"We've held four hearings since last year on the digital television transition and dedicated the past two months to seeking a bipartisan consensus. It's now time to take the next step and legislate. The current 85 percent penetration test guarantees only confusion and uncertainty. It is far wiser to plan for the coming change than to sit back and wait for television sets to go dark. That is the common sense principle upon which this discussion draft is predicated.

"The benefits of adopting a date certain are numerous and significant. For years, our first responders have had to make do with antiquated radio equipment while waiting for the airwaves they were promised. This bill will make it easier for these public servants to catch criminals, fight fires and save lives.

"This spectrum will also raise billions of dollars at auction, helping us further reduce the federal deficit. In addition, our legislation will foster new investment and job growth in the communications sector. Consumers can look forward to wireless broadband and other services and products unimaginable several years ago.

"This issue is too important to wait. It has critical implications for homeland security, consumers, our economy, and the federal budget. I remain hopeful that we will ultimately achieve a bipartisan consensus on this issue. This discussion draft and our next hearing will help us take another step toward that goal. I welcome the input of committee members on both sides of the aisle as we move swiftly to a markup."

Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee Chairman Upton made the following statement: "I am confident that at the end of the day, we will have a DTV bill that will deliver something of real value to American consumers as we approach the digital age. For nearly two months we have negotiated in absolute good faith with our Democrat counterparts and our hearing this week on the draft bill ensures that the process continues to move forward. We will continue to work on a bipartisan bill that I hope will enjoy widespread support on both sides of the aisle."

Specifically, the discussion draft would:

• Require television broadcasters to cease transmitting programs in analog format by December 31, 2008.
• Require the FCC to:
  •  issue a report and order by December 31, 2006 on the final digital channel assignments for broadcasters, complete any reconsideration by July 31, 2007, and submit status reports to Congress every six months starting February 1, 2006 on the international coordination of the digital channel assignments with Canada and Mexico.
  • educate consumers on the hard deadline and the options they will have to continue using analog televisions after the digital television transition.
  • maintain the FCC's existing digital tuner-mandate deadlines for integrated television receivers that have 25-inch screens or larger, and to accelerate, to July 1, 2006, the deadline for televisions with 13- to 24-inch screens.
• Require manufacturers to place labels on, and retailers to place signs adjacent to, analog-only televisions indicating that those televisions will need to be attached to a digital receiver, digital-to-analog converter box, or multichannel video service to continue receiving broadcast programming after December 31, 2008.
• Require cable operators to carry the primary video signal of digital must-carry broadcasters in the format broadcast.
  • In addition to, but not in lieu of, such carriage, cable operators may convert a digital must-carry signal to analog anywhere between the head-end and the subscribers' premises so that the signal can be viewed on analog televisions. If cable operators do such conversion for any must-carry broadcaster in a market, they must do such conversion for all must-carry broadcasters in the market. The FCC may sunset the "carry-one, carry all" obligation beginning Dec. 31, 2013. The FCC is authorized to create comparable regulations regarding satellite providers.

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