FCC commissioner compares DTV transition to Y2K

After a congressional report last month criticized the FCC and private industry for not working better together to ensure a smoother DTV transition, one commissioner responded by saying the executive branch should get involved.

In response to a US Government Accountability Office report issued three weeks ago suggesting that the government lacks a comprehensive plan for marshaling the nation's transition from analog television to digital come February 2009, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps suggested the White House should become directly involved in the DTV plan.

"I know what a comprehensive, public sector-private sector partnership looks like," Commissioner Copps wrote. "It has accountability, clear lines of authority, and daily coordination at the highest levels. Someone needs to oversee that effort. In Y2K we had an Inter-Agency Task Force, headed out of The White House. Absent that, I agree with GAO that the FCC is in the best position to get the job done. But the hour is late --very late."

Copps' statement comes on the heels of the FCC's release of a detailed report listing the milestones it has met thus far in carrying out the DTV transition, dating back to 1986. The depth of the FCC's itinerary alone was apparently released in its own defense, after the GAO report (PDF available here) politely spotlighted what it believes to be the plan's principal shortcoming: the lack of cohesion between the public and private sector in educating the public and pulling this off.

"An expert panel GAO convened identified key practices for consumer education planning," the report's summary reads, "including coordinating among stakeholders, constructing consistent messages, researching target audiences, and establishing metrics to measure success. The expert panel also noted that potential challenges for consumer outreach include prioritizing limited resources, educating consumers who do not necessarily need to take action, and reaching underserved populations. It remains unclear whether public/private sector interaction can ensure a consistent message to prevent consumer confusion."

Next month, the government's subsidy program for citizens' purchase of set-top boxes will be initiated. Households will be able to apply for up to two coupons worth $40 apiece, toward the purchase of set-top converter boxes to be sold by major retailers between January 1 and March 31, 2009. This morning, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration stated Circuit City, Target, RadioShack, Sears (which includes Kmart), and Wal-Mart (which includes Sam's Club) stores are participating retailers, and that the total list of stores and chains now totals over 100.

Last August, NTIA awarded IBM the contract for managing the private side of the consumer education program, a category of task for which IBM has not been well-known. In last month's report, the GAO questioned whether NTIA and IBM would have enough time, resources, or willingness to be able to execute a program that would have to rely on most of the nation's CE retailers' assistance.

"While the program's outcome depends on the ability of NTIA and its contractor to encourage and coordinate the voluntary participation of retailers and manufacturers, NTIA remains ultimately responsible for the program," reads the GAO's summary. "There is also uncertainty regarding retailer readiness and participation in the program, as well as potential challenges related to inventory planning. If retailers' participation is limited or delayed, consumers might face difficulties in redeeming their coupons for converter boxes, without which some might lose access to television programming."

An expert panel convened by the GAO for the November report suggested that the NTIA's and IBM's job might become easier if they focused on targeted market segments, rather than launch an outreach program to educate people who may not be immediately impacted by the DTV transition. Cable subscribers who don't pick up signals from their antennas, for instance, won't need converter boxes.

"Because many messages focus on the actions that households that rely on over-the-air analog broadcasting need to take, consumers unaffected by the transition may become confused and purchase equipment they do not need," reads the detail of the GAO report. "In our past work looking at a similar digital transition in Germany, we have described this potential confusion to cable and satellite households as a challenge of educating consumers about the transition."

In its defense, the FCC report claimed it was doing precisely that: working with the NTIA to determine which groups to target. "One of the Commission's most significant partnerships is with NTIA," reads the FCC's response yesterday (PDF available here). "We meet with them regularly, coordinate our outreach strategies, and share exhibit space at events to provide consumers with one-stop access to full DTV transition information. As the transition continues, we plan to meet more frequently and engage in additional joint marketing efforts."

As an example, two of the targeted groups it says the FCC and NTIA have already met with are the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- with which they've coordinated distribution of brochures through over 700 BIA field offices -- and over 600 local offices of the Administration on Aging, where brochures were also sent.

"While the Commission has established strong federal relationships," the FCC response goes on, "we realize the importance of working with the states and local entities. Like the federal agencies, we will continue asking these groups to link to www.dtv.gov and offer to provide them with articles, publications, or e-mails to send to their employees and constituencies."

But mailing out crates of brochures wasn't exactly what FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein had in mind.

"The FCC does not have a strategic plan for the DTV transition," reads a statement from Commissioner Adelstein yesterday. "There is not even a plan to come up with a plan. Only the FCC appears to be in a state of denial over what the GAO is telling us. Rather than making excuses, we need to come up with solutions. We need to establish an interagency task force now, and we need to reinstate our internal FCC working group immediately."

Commissioner Copps added this: "It continues to astound me that we do not have a comprehensive DTV transition plan. This effort is far too important to be left to chance or patchwork decisions by individual companies."