NAB Rebuts Consumer Electronics Association DTV Tuner Statements Issues "Fact vs. Myth -- The DTV Tuner Integration Debate" Statement

	The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) answered the statement of the Consumer Electronics Association, which protested the FCC's DTV tuner mandate. Here's the full text of this latest volley by the representative of many of the nation's broadcasters. Of the 25 million television sets sold each year, less than one percent include digital tuners. After two years of review, the FCC appears ready to correct this problem by implementing a phased-in "tuner mandate," requiring all new television sets to include tuning capability for both analog and digital broadcast signals. This move will propel the digital television transition forward by giving consumers the ability to receive digital signals off-air. Equally important, a mandate would spare consumers obsolescence problems as the transition is completed. [an error occurred while processing this directive] In an attempt to stymie the FCC’s efforts to accelerate the digital television transition, the Consumer Electronics Association is spreading myths and half-truths about the costs of a tuner mandate and about the digital television transition in general. Myth: A tuner mandate will be costly for consumers and set manufacturers The Facts: • CEA vastly overestimates the impact a tuner mandate would have upon pricing. The FCC’s proposal is for a phased in mandate, beginning with larger, more expensive sets and eventually applying to smaller sets. This process will make the mandate affordable to both consumers and manufacturers and ensure that early adopters, who would be purchasing more expensive sets anyway, absorb most of the cost. • The economic consulting firm Arthur D. Little, Inc. recently completed a study of a phased-in tuner mandate that would begin with larger sets and move gradually down to smaller sets. The study found that the material cost for integration of a tuner would be reduced from $100 to $9 by 2006, due to the efficiencies of mass production. The retail price increase is estimated to be only $16. • Thomson and Zenith, two of the largest TV receiver manufacturers in the U.S., have publicly broken ranks with the CEA position and support phased-in universal integration of DTV tuners. • As Zenith has pointed out, the actual cost premium of adding DTV reception capability to DTV sets is already less than $200—and falling. This is even before mass production efficiencies that would result from a mandate. • A slight increase in set costs now will save consumers in the long run; once the transition is completed and broadcasters cease analog transmissions, consumers will face severe obsolescence problems with analog-only sets. • The switch by consumers from analog-only to digital capable sets will represent the biggest wealth transfer in history—to the benefit of consumer electronics manufacturers. • While some electronics manufacturers might wish to prolong this process by forcing consumers to purchase a digital set only a few years after purchasing an analog set, a more consumer-friendly solution would make sets that can function in both the digital and analog worlds widely available now. Myth: Only a small percentage of Americans use an antenna. Therefore, a tuner mandate is not needed to advance the transition. Instead, the FCC should concentrate on cable carriage and universal plug-and-play interoperability standards. The Facts: • 81 million television sets- roughly a third of the television set population- currently gets their signals over-the-air. Without a tuner mandate, the millions of sets Americans purchase each year for over the-air-reception will be left behind during the digital transition. • Relying solely on cable as we move into the digital television world runs contrary to the U.S. system of free, over-the-air broadcasting. One of the unique aspects of America’s system of local broadcasting is that it is free to consumers. Anyone with a set and an antenna can receive the benefits of local news, weather, and other programming over-the-air. In the analog world, manufacturers do not build television sets without analog tuners. Similarly, in the digital world, we should not be building sets that are incapable of receiving a digital signal off-air. The U.S. system of free, over-the air broadcasting is the envy of the world and protecting it should be an integral priority to any DTV transition policy. • Broadcasters recognize the need for cable carriage of digital signals and interoperability standards for digital television devices—in fact we have long advocated for both. This does not mean that a tuner mandate can be left out. Any meaningful digital television policy will advance the transition on all three fronts: cable carriage, interoperability and tuner integration. • Finally, digital television changes how consumers watch TV. Broadcast digital signals do not have any snow or “ghosts.” This means that many more consumers may be willing to utilize overthe- air reception in the digital future and this option should be available to them. Myth: American consumers are already paying for the transition through broadcasters’ digital television spectrum. The Facts: • The federal government loaned local television stations a swath of spectrum in order to make the digital television transition possible. This was so stations could, during the transition period, broadcast simultaneously in both analog and digital in order to avoid cutting off service to their viewers. Once the transition is complete and stations are sending out only a digital signal, broadcasters will turn off their analog transmissions and return their analog spectrum to the government. • Local broadcasters remain committed to the digital television transition. To date, 455 television stations are broadcasting in digital. DTV signals are being transmitted in 135 markets that include 88.38% of U.S. TV households. In addition, 45% of all U.S. TV households are in markets where broadcasters are delivering four or more DTV signals. • It is estimated that local broadcasters have over $1 billion of capital stranded in the digital television transition – including new broadcast towers, new transmission equipment, and new editing and production facilities. This does not include the costs television stations are enduring to simultaneously transmit analog and digital signals -- costs like heightened electric bills and engineering time. • The most efficient way to return analog spectrum to the public is to see the transition completed. Congress has recognized that tuner availability will be necessary to achieving this goal: it has mandated that broadcasters in any given market retain their analog spectrum until 85% of the television households in that market can receive a digital signal. A tuner mandate would get us closer to the 85% threshold, thereby hastening the return of analog spectrum. • Once the transition is complete, television stations will occupy less spectrum than they do in the analog world. However, to achieve this more efficient allocation of this vital public resource, the FCC must move the transition forward with a phased-in tuner mandate. Source: NAB RELATED FORUMS: • RELATED SITES: • Broadcast Newsroom • DTV Professional • HDTV Buyer [an error occurred while processing this directive]