Free Republic

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A House Commerce Committee draft bill sets a Dec. 31, 2008, deadline for the transition to digital from analog television signals - three months earlier than legislation approved by the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday. The House Commerce Committee is expected to mark up its version of the digital-TV bill later this month. The legislation, details of which were obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, also sets aside nearly $1 billion to conduct a consumer education campaign and fund a subsidy program for consumers with analog TV sets to purchase digital converters so that they don't lose...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A Senate bill, scheduled for committee vote Thursday setting an April 2009 digital television transition date, will include a $3 billion subsidy program for digital converter boxes, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Wednesday. The subsidy will cover "everyone who has a TV who needs a box," Stevens said at a luncheon speech sponsored by the Free Enterprise Fund. The $3 billion will come out of the roughly $10 billion in proceeds expected from sale of the block of 700 megahertz spectrum currently occupied by broadcasters that will be freed up with the...