(Washington, D.C.) – Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) President Tom Schatz sent a letter to the U.S. Senate in opposition to an amendment introduced by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) that undermines the Save Lives Act (S. 2820).  The original bill required broadcasters to stop using analog spectrum by 2009 without exceptions in order to grant exclusive control over the 700 MHz band to public safety entities.  Sen. Burns’ amendment will stall that transition.  Excerpts from Schatz’s letter follow:

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I ask that when this bill is brought to the floor, the Burns amendment be removed.

The Burns amendment, in reality a sop to the national broadcasters, allows the Federal Communications Commission to exempt certain broadcasters if it is shown that “consumer disruptions” will occur because consumers have old televisions sets that are unable to receive digital programming by January 1, 2008.  Knowing the broadcasters’ poor record on transitioning to digital broadcasts, taxpayers can expect that no progress will be made unless the Senate strips the Burns amendment from the bill.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act and the 1997 Balanced Budget Act required all broadcasters to transmit digital signals to the public by May 1, 2003 and return their analog spectrum to the government by the end of 2006 for auction.  However, Congress did not require broadcasters to turn over their analog spectrum by December 31, 2006 if less than 85 percent of households in their market had televisions that could receive digital broadcasts.  Because this created an incentive for broadcasters to stall switching to digital signals, they have done so, in spite of the fact that Congress gave broadcasters billions of dollars of digital spectrum free of charge in order to make the transition to digital service seamless.  As a result, there are few digital broadcasts and consumers are reluctant to purchase digital televisions.

Now, further delays are becoming dangerous for Americans.  The 9/11 Report recommended expedited assignment of spectrum to first responders for public safety.  If the broadcasters had done what they were tasked to do in 1996 and 1997, contiguous spectrum would be available for these important functions.  To correct this problem, broadcasters should give up their analog spectrum by 2008, without any qualifications.

Taxpayers and consumers have waited long enough for the broadcasters to act and it is time for a firm deadline for transition to a digital signal.  The longer broadcasters are permitted to hold up transition to digital signals and withhold the analog spectrum from others, the clearer it becomes that the government is mismanaging an important resource of the people and weakening national security.  Any votes on this measure will be among those considered for CCAGW’s 2004 Congressional Ratings. 

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.