No on Question 5

Do you favor a $9,400,000 bond issue for the conversion to digital broadcasting by the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation?

The transition of the nation’s broadcast television system to digital format is inevitable. The benefits of crystal-clear reception, of multiple-channel programming, of increasing the options for data-transfer technologies are undeniable.

But the method for bringing about this transition — an unfunded mandate from Congress — is unacceptable. The defeat of Question 5 will not stop the inevitable, it will not shame Congress into a repeal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Neither will it, as Question 5 backers unfortunately assert, be a death sentence for Big Bird.

The $9.4 million in this bond issue ($11.7 million with interest) is just half of what MPB needs to convert — actually, with the $2 million already appropriated by the Legislature, less than half. Meanwhile, the National Association of Broadcasters estimates that the average conversion cost for the 1,600 stations in the country will be in the $8 million to $12 million range — the cost is directly related to the size of the geographic area to be covered. The fact that it will cost a small public television station in one of the nation’s poorest states twice as much, or more, to convert as it will cost a commercial broadcaster in one of the nation’s largest markets is testament to the inherent unfairness of this ill-planned forced march into the future.

To obtain any benefit from this expenditure, Mainers either will have to buy digital televisions (now retailing in the $4,000 range and up) or buy converter boxes (at $100 to $150 apiece) for each of the sets they already own. That’s $13.7 million in public money, plus the $9.4 million MPB must raise from contributors, plus a surcharge of at least several hundred dollars for most households. The list of more pressing needs for Mainers, either as taxpayers or as individuals, is long.

Also long, and growing, is the list of telecommunications experts who say the 2006 cut-off date for analog broadcasting is unattainable. Even in some of the largest markets (New York and Chicago, for example), the transition is way behind schedule due difficulties in siting the extremely tall towers needed for interference-free digital broadcasting. The Federal Communications Commission is not threatening these stations with the loss of their licenses. Instead, it is talking about flexibility, about extensions of deadlines, about understanding extenuating circumstances.

The FCC’s own rules say that a station will not lose its analog license if the conversion is delayed by factors beyond its control. Certainly, the refusal of Maine taxpayers to pay a premium for living in a large rural state is beyond MPB’s control. FCC rules also say that the analog license need not be surrendered until 85 percent of the households in a market have the equipment to receive digital broadcasts. Obviously, the poorer the market, the longer the transition period (nationally, color televisions were on the market for 18 years before they achieved 85-percent penetration). Analog and digital broadcasts will exist side-by-side for many years to come. MPB can use those years to develop better tower-sharing arrangements, co-licensing agreements and other partnerships with the state’s commercial broadcasters that will save millions. And keep Big Bird alive as well.

Congress imposed the 2006 deadline as part of the Balanced Budget Act — the auction of the freed-up analog spectrum would generate some $50 billion for the Treasury. The last several auctions have fallen well short of estimates.

Meanwhile, sales of digital televisions in large markets where digital broadcasts already are available have been embarrassingly slow. If consumers now are apathetic, they’ll be furious when they have to spend $100 or more on converters for their existing sets. Eventually, Congress will have to repeal this enormous, hidden tax on the consumer and allow the market, not a mandate, to propel this conversion. That also is inevitable and when it occurs, Maine won’t be behind, but ahead.