Audio Video News

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may stop making suggestions and start meting out punishment to broadcasters who fail to make adequate progress in changing over to digital technology, according to reports from Washington.

On May 16, the agency announced that it would consider a program of "graduated sanctions" against TV licensees who fail to act aggressively in the effort to change the nation's broadcasting format from analog to digital. Under the plan, sanctions would increase in severity every six months for broadcasters who lag behind their colleagues. The ultimate sanction could be the possible loss of their licenses should they fail to make adequate progress. The only acceptable excuses would be "circumstances beyond their control" or "legitimate financial hardship." Sanctions will be applied on a case-by-case basis, commissioners stated.

"The tentative proposals contemplate an increasingly severe level of sanctions every six months the licensee fails to construct—beginning with admonishment, followed by issuance of notices of apparent liability for forfeiture, and culminating in rescission of the licensee's DTV authorization," the FCC said in a prepared statement. The 2006 deadline for a complete national DTV system may not be met even with regulatory and legislative pressure applied on broadcasters. More than 70% of US television stations failed to meet the May 1 deadline for basic equipment upgrades.

The move marks the first time the agency has applied serious pressure in the DTV rollout, although a strongly-worded speech by FCC chairman Michael Powell at last month's National Association of Broadcasters convention produced positive responses from both the NAB and the cable industry.

The "notice of proposed rulemaking," adopted at the FCC's monthly meeting, is posted for public comment on the agency's Website.