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Digital TV snowed in by 'Napster factor'
March 16, 2001 8:33 AM PT
 Nascent
free over-the-air digital programming is suffering from what a congressional
panel Thursday dubbed the "Napster Factor." Broadcasters
get twitchy at the prospect of having to deliver high-quality digital
content all day without a means to protect that programming from
being easily stored, stolen and streamed onto the Internet, similar
to the current nightmare scenario the music industry is facing with
Napster.
Cable and satellite companies have a proposal in place with content
providers that would allow severe restrictions to be placed on the
recording of digital programming. Besides setting copy limits, the
proposal requires cable operators and broadcasters to "down
resolution" of specified digital programming delivered to conventional
TV sets so consumers can't make high-quality copies, according to
a report in the trade publication Communications Daily.
 But
that same technology isn't yet capable of being applied to over-the-air
TV signals and broadcasters have proposed encrypting over-the-air
TV signals to protect them from piracy.
"If broadly applied, such a doctrine would contravene and
nullify public policy as to the reasonable and customary practices
[of home recording] of consumers," Gary Shapiro, chairman of
the Home Recording Rights Coalition said in a letter to the Federal
Communications Commission about the encryption plan. Encrypting
free, over-the-air television would create little incentive for
consumers to transition to digital television, Shapiro said.
We need to get our hands around the delicate issue of providing
digital copyright protection while preserving long-standing consumer
expectations about taping in the privacy of their homes for non-commercial,
personal purposes," said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman
of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Without adequate protection, Tauzin noted, there will be no content.
With no content, no consumer market. "I do not want the transition
to digital television to mean the end of quality free, over-the-air
programming," he said, adding that his committee will hold
an entire hearing on subject of copy protection in the digital age
later this year.
The hearing Thursday put the broadcasting industry under a harsh
spotlight for slouching toward the transition to digital television
in a "chicken-and-egg" atmosphere that Rep. Fred Upton,
R-Mich., called a "current conundrum."
In 1997 Congress handed the television industry Faustian bargain:
you can have a fat slice of valuable digital TV spectrum - which
some experts estimate to be worth $70 billion - for free, if you
promise to give up all your current (analog) TV channels by 2006.
And by 2002 all commercial TV stations must be transmitting a digital
signal. The TV industry took the deal, even as broadcasters carped
about a "totally arbitrary deadline."
Critics of that deadline, including some members of Congress, wryly
note that the deadline for the return of the analog was indeed arbitrary
and driven by budget policy, not public policy.
The returned analog spectrum will be auctioned off for use by wireless
companies with the proceeds-which experts believe will be in the
tens of billions of dollars-used to balance the government budget.
But progress to that 2006 deadline is expected to slip due to a
sluggish consumer market.
"I am willing to consider exploring the idea of imposing a
hard deadline of 2006 to reinvigorate everyone to work together
to bring about the transition," Tauzin said.
DTV ready
But consumer acceptance of DTV has lagged, owing to a dearth of
programming and expensive TV sets, which can cost $3,000 or more.
Some in Congress want a law to force TV makers to make their sets
"DTV ready." This would allow any TV set sold to receive
either analog or digital signals and be instantly compatible with
all cable systems without the need of a set-top box.
TV maker's bristle at the idea, saying such a move would raise
the cost of the already expensive sets by at least $200.
"I've heard that before," Rep. Edward Markey,
D-Mass., said Thursday. "When I proposed adding the V-chip
to each TV, the industry said it would cost $25... now it actually
costs about 25 cents," he said. Markey floated a bill last
year that would have required digital ready circuitry in new TVs,
but it never got out of committee.
Some 33 million TV sets were sold last year, compared with 648,429
DTVs, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. Though
the market for DTVs woefully lagged that of conventional sets, sales
in 2000 were 400 percent higher than the previous year, the trade
group said.
'Must carry' catch
Another hurdle standing in the way of a healthy digital TV industry
is the "must carry" squabble between broadcasters and
cable operators.
By law cable companies "must carry" the analog signals
of broadcasters. Broadcasters say that law also includes an obligation
for cable operators to carry their digital signals as well. "Digital
must carry is the most important, yet unresolved issue for the digital
transition," Ben Tucker, president of Fisher Broadcasting and
chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters told the congressional
panel Thursday.
No way, snorts the cable industry in reply.
"Our customers do want redundant duplicates of broadcast signals
at the expense of new and innovative channels or at the expense
of new broadband services," said Michael Willner, CEO of Insight
Communications and vice-chairman of the National Cable Television
Association.
Willner dubbed the demand of broadcasters to carry their digital
signals as a policy of "dual must carry that is neither pro-consumer
nor would it spur the purchase of digital TVs." In addition,
Willner told Congress that the cable industry has ponied up $42
billion to transition its networks to digital, while the broadcast
industry has spent only about $1 billion and implied that broadcasters
shouldn't be given a free ride on the investments of the cable industry.
The lawmakers, however, were clearly upset with the industry's
infighting. Rep. Anna Eschoo, D-Calif., said the differences reminded
her of "a food fight."
A few of the congressmen held out the threat of the regulatory
velvet hammer if the issues weren't satisfactory resolved - and
resolved quickly.
"I suggest you all lock up the lawyers and get together in
some conference room and come up with some compromise," said
Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. "Otherwise you're just inviting intervention
by Congress and probably re-regulation."
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