Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

Today on the hill Michael J. Copps, Chairman of Federal Communications Commission (FCC), spoke about the delay in digital television transition until June 2009. He said that the FCC-team are doing their best at the moment to prepare America for the future transition.

This was said at a hearing held by the Communications, Technology and Internet Subcommittee with participants such as Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Anna Gomez, Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information U.S. Department of Commerce.

Copps explained that to help America make the transition, a lesson from the past has to be learn. He said that that is the reason that the FCC-team now focuses much more on customer education, since it presented past problems.

Stearns discussed the digital transition in many states and that it had been implemented successfully. He said that five percent of the Americans were not able to make the transition and suggested that a solution would be to help only these five percent. In that way, the rest of the money invested in the FCC program could be repaid and cost efficiency would occur, said Stearns.

Gomez responded that money that is not being used in making the transition easier will be repaid. Gomez also stated that the extending of the transition was necessary and that America will be much more prepared for it in June. Gomez said, “Working together we can get the Digital Television Transition right. The American people deserve nothing less."