The FCC stubs its toe

In early August, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to require digital-channel tuners in every new TV set by mid-2007. This means every new set could receive digital broadcast TV signals, whether or not the buyer intended to actually watch broadcast TV. In fact, most TV buyers need no tuner at all. According to the Wall Street Journal, the US has 105.44 million "TV households," and only about 10% lack a connection to a cable, satellite, or other TV system. Count me among the remaining 90%. I haven't switched my TV from channel 3—the cable-converter's output channel—in decades. When you have to buy one of these new TVs—with its unused digital tuner—just think of the extra $250 as the FCC's "tax" on your new set.

Michael K. Powell, chairman of the FCC, said, "This is not a market-oriented policy. This is an industrial policy." The FCC wants desperately to move today's broadcast stations out of valuable spectrum so it can auction their channels to other communication services. To make way for new services, the FCC gave new digital channels to existing TV stations to encourage them to broadcast programs in a digital format. But alternate technologies left broadcast TV in the dust years ago.

Here in Boston, many of the local TV stations now offer programs on their digital broadcast channels, but no one's watching. Instead, they're buying digital-TV services from cable and satellite-TV companies that deliver a variety of products the broadcast TV stations can't match. These consumers don't need digital-broadcast tuners in their TV sets because they bypass them and use the converter boxes their TV service provides.

The electronics industry can reduce the cost of the FCC's mandate and still give people what they want. But to do so they have to stop building all-in-one TV sets. Instead, they should produce separate displays and receivers and connect them with a high-speed bus such as IEEE 1394 or a special video bus developed just for high-fidelity video. If viewers want to receive broadcast digital-TV signals, they buy a receiver box rather than a digital-cable or digital-satellite system. My idea isn't that new: At home, our DVD player connects to a TV set through an S-video interface. And most computer systems come with a separate display and CPU.

The FCC shouldn't tell an industry what to build. Instead, it should encourage innovation by setting standards that make efficient use of the wireless spectrum. And it should let consumers choose goods and services that fit their needs and budgets.

Contact Jon Titus at jontitus@tmworld.com