Sen. McCain Seeks &#36;1 Billion to Speed Digital TV Shift
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U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain is pushing for up to &#36;1 billion in aid to ensure consumers are not left in the dark when television stations broadcast only new, crisp digital signals, according to draft legislation obtained on Sunday.
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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK  - The presidential election is 14 months away and with as many as 17 candidates now running, U.S. television and radio broadcasters are elated at the prospect of billions more in advertising dollars.
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Sen. John McCain made it official on  Wednesday that he is seeking the 2008 Republican presidential  nomination and said he plans a formal announcement in April.
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Lawmakers believe the analog TV spectrum can be put to much better use and can generate billions in auctions to telecom companies. So Congress is considering paying Americans to ditch over-the-air analog TV and switch to digital. Michael Grebb reports from Washington.
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ABC television, backed by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and others, spent much of yesterday trying to keep nervous affiliate stations from deserting a Veterans Day broadcast of the
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(InfoWorld) - Several lawmakers protested a spectrum auction proposal from the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), saying his plan could limit the number of bidders and raise costs to consumers. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's plan would require winners of part of theÂ 700MHz band of spectrum, to be auctioned by early next year, to accept any wireless devices, including phone handsets, allowing customers to transfer devices between mobile providers. Martin's plan would also include net neutrality-like rules, prohibiting auction winners from blocking or slowing Web content from other providers. But several members of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, many of them Republicans, questioned Martin's proposed rules, which have support of the majority of the FCC. Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, said he was "very disappointed" that fellow Republican Martin was proposing regulations for part of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned. Some proposals byÂ consumer groups and Frontline WirelessÂ would also require auction winners to provide wholesale access to competitors, and Barton praised Martin for not including that provision. "It's not quite as bad as the Frontline plan, but I don't think it's as good as absolute no-condition auction," Barton said. Many Republicans suggested that auction conditions would decrease the value of the spectrum. Congress has budgeted the auction to raise $10 billion with about half of that going toward reducing the U.S. government budget deficit. "Congress has already spent that money," said Representative Charles Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat. Questions about Martin's proposal came from a handful of Democrats. Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked FCC commissioners whether the device-portability rules would increase the cost of wireless phone plans. Customers want to be able to take their mobile phones with them when they switch carriers, but carriers generally haven't offered that option, Martin said. "I think the benefits outweigh the costs and concerns," he said. Barton suggested that winning bidders could implement the device-portability and net neutrality proposals without FCC mandate. Google has indicatedÂ it could bid billions of dollars, Barton noted. "Why shouldn't we just let Google bid?" Barton said. "If they've got a better idea, why don't they go into the marketplace and bid their four or five billion dollars?" There's customer demand for device portability, but carriers haven't acted on it, Martin said. Wireless carriers didn't offer phone number portability until the FCC forced them to in late 2003, then millions of U.S. residents took advantage of it, he said. Asked whether they supported Martin's proposals, the FCC's two Democrats said they did, while the two other Republicans said they hadn't made their minds up yet. "Please let me keep my phone and let me take it wherever I want," said subcommittee chairman Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. The so-called open-access rules are necessary for new broadband competition to challenge cable and telecom providers, said FCC commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat. The 700MHz auction is the last major spectrum auction on the horizon, many participants said. "This is one proceeding where we cannot fail," Copps said. Some lawmakers suggested Martin's proposal doesn't go far enough. Representative Charles "Chip" Pickering, a Mississippi Republican, called on the FCC to require wholesale access rules as well. Wholesale access would allow new and innovative services to flourish on the networks using the spectrum, he said. Martin's plan would "enhance markets and competition," he added.
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The Democratic candidate steps up his airwaves campaign in an early state.
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NEW YORK -- TV's big switch from analog to digital broadcasts will be complete in just one year, on Feb. 17, 2009, and many consumers are puzzling over how the shift will affect them: Do they need a new converter box, a new TV, a better antenna? But it's pretty clear which business interests stand...
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NEW YORK -- TV's big switch from analog to digital broadcasts will be complete in just one year, on Feb. 17, 2009, and many consumers are puzzling over how the shift will affect them: Do they need a new converter box, a new TV, a better antenna?
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As Americans wonder when the troops will come home from Iraq, Republican White House hopeful John McCain is laying his first big bet of the 2008 campaign: demanding more soldiers for the war.
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By Christian Hill, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.  Feb. 14--Qwest pushed for a bill Tuesday that it says would hold down soaring cable TV rates in Washington by creating competition.
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In an early move to corner the high-definition television market in the United States, DirecTV said Wednesday that it will spend more than &#36;1 billion to launch four satellites with the capacity to offer every home in America more than 1,500 local and 150 national HD channels.
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A cable giant looks to the future of digital video.
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Political advertising  spending in this presidential primary season is on a record  track with TV stations in the early decision states benefiting  the most.
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PHILADELPHIA - A politically conservative broadcasting company has ordered its 62 television stations - which together reach almost a quarter of the nationâs households - to air a documentary critical of Sen.
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Republican John McCain on Wednesday asked for an investigation of thousands of calls to New Hampshire voters disparaging him and supporting rival Mike Huckabee.
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Republican Sen. John McCain raised nearly $12 million in January, propelled by victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina that solidified his place as the leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.