Michael Calabrese, director of New America's Wireless Future program, testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in June 2004. His opening remarks are excerpted here; a full transcript is available below in PDF form.

There is a general consensus that rapidly completing the digital TV transition – thereby freeing up the 108 MHz of “beachfront” spectrum corresponding to TV channels 52-to- 69 – is clearly in the public interest. Because wireless signals at this frequency range pass easily through walls and trees, the 700 MHz band could jumpstart the deployment of more affordable wireless broadband connections, particularly in rural areas.

Although Congress has already reallocated a portion of these TV channels for public safety agencies (to address interoperability problems) and for auction to licensed cellular services (which could yield $30-to-$40 billion in federal revenue), the DTV transition is badly stalled. There is no fixed deadline for redeploying these precious frequencies from analog broadcasting for the few to productive broadband for all. And, as FCC Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree testified before the House Commerce Committee last week, under current law it could take decades before these economically critical frequencies are cleared for wireless broadband and other emerging technologies. The controversial question is how to end analog broadcasting without stranding the roughly 15 percent of consumers who still rely on analog over-the-air reception for their “free” TV.

Last month the FCC’s Media Bureau floated a new DTV transition plan that represents a fairly radical departure from the government’s current approach. Rather than relying on additional subsidies to broadcasters, the “Ferree Plan” recognizes that the real DTV transition is taking place not over the air, but over the cable and satellite systems that already provide the primary TV service to at least 85 percent of U.S. households.3 By counting all cable households as capable of receiving digital broadcasts, the FCC could declare that the statutory 85 percent threshold of DTV-capable homes in each market has been reached – and on that basis schedule the termination of analog broadcasting, and the reallocation of the spectrum used by TV Channels 52-to-69, for January 1, 2009.

Unfortunately, while the Media Bureau plan is a step in the right direction, it is insufficient. By focusing solely on meeting the 85 percent statutory threshold for ending analog broadcasting, it ignores the far more relevant obstacle to redeploying the 700 MHz band to public safety and wireless broadband: the 17 million consumers who continue to rely on over-the-air analog TV. The switch from analog to digital-only broadcasting would currently force millions of households to purchase a digital TV, to purchase adigital-to-analog converter (so that their current TV still functions), or to subscribe to a paid cable or satellite service.

It is true that product obsolescence is an everyday fact of life for Americans. Every year Americans throw away tens of millions of perfectly usable computers and mobile telephones because new technology comes along that makes them obsolete. Yet the potential backlash from consumers who continue to rely on terrestrial (over-the-air) broadcasting means the Ferree Plan is unlikely to succeed without a one-time consumer equipment subsidy.

We believe it is necessary for Congress to step in and fix the problem it created when it loaned broadcasters, with no strings attached, a second free channel of spectrum in the 1996 Communications Act. At a cost equal to about 10 percent of the likely revenue the government can receive by reassigning Channels 52-to-69, a consumer subsidy can facilitate a two-year switchover from analog to DTV. By January 1, 2008 the DTV transition can be completed, the 108 MHz of channel 52-to-69 spectrum can be repurposed to public safety and wireless broadband, tens of billions of dollars of new federal revenue can be collected, and the FCC’s costly DTV tuner mandate can be repealed if Congress chooses to earmark a fraction of the spectrum auction revenue (between 5 and 15 percent) for a tax credit to offset the cost for consumers who still rely on analog over-the-air broadcasting. A rapid and smooth DTV transition along these lines was completed last year in Berlin, Germany – and can likewise be successful here.