Washington – While considering slashes in Medicaid and student-loan programs, Congress is about to set aside up to $3 billion to help millions of Americans with older, nondigital TV sets buy converter boxes.
Each converter box is expected to cost the government $40 to $60, but supporters of the legislation don’t want to take any chances of being accused of denying Americans their right to a TV picture when broadcasting goes all digital.
Depending on how much money is allocated, the funding would go to purchase as many as 60 million “set-top” electronic boxes to make it possible for older, broadcast-only TV sets to continue receiving a picture when the broadcasting industry converts to all-digital transmission. Conservative groups have criticized the proposed expenditure as a giveaway, but it has received less attention because it is included in deficit-reduction legislation that has generated an uproar in the House for its spending reductions in programs affecting the poor, such as Medicaid and food stamps.
The GOP leadership yanked the budget bill from the floor last week because it had failed to gather enough votes to pass it, and its outlook is now uncertain. Some of the House’s spending cuts could be killed to make the bill more palatable, but there is no indication that the television provision is in jeopardy. The Senate has already passed its budget measure.
James Gatusso, a technology expert at the Heritage Foundation, called it “a subsidy for old TV sets” and not the wisest use of federal money at a time of large deficits.
Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a budget-watchdog group, said helping poor people buy converter boxes appears justified.
The money would be doled out without regard to income, though families that have broadcast-only sets tend to be poorer, industry officials said.
Both the House and Senate bills would require the industry to convert to all-digital broadcasting by a specific date – on Dec. 31, 2008, in the House bill and April 7, 2009, in the Senate measure. Old “analog,” or nondigital, sets could not receive a picture unless they are hooked to a cable or satellite system.
These provisions created some controversy, but nowhere near the uproar over proposed cuts in Medicaid, food stamps and student-loan programs as well as tax cuts. One reason is that the government would take over the broadcasting spectrum and auction it off to private companies, raising $10 billion to $28 billion.
Rather than risk an uproar by millions of Americans, including an estimated 21 million households that have only nondigital sets, lawmakers decided to pre-empt the complaints with a purchase plan similar to one tried in Berlin when it recently switched to all-digital.
“The potential for consumer outrage over one day waking up and finding out that you are simply incapable of receiving local news, information about a hurricane or tornado alert, or entertainment programs, is enormous,” said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.
Some conservative groups have criticized the proposed expenditure as excessive and unnecessary, complaining that it subsidizes old technology.
“I think it’s way too much,” said Gatusso, the Heritage Foundation analyst. He said neither bill requires people to reveal whether they have a cable or satellite hookup, and that subsidies would go to people who have extra broadcast-only TVs in bedrooms or dens.
