DTV Bonanza: FCC orders education efforts, Adelstein says "too little, too late, not good enough."

A quick perusal of the FCC website produced some gems that I missed while I was running around Politics Online "like a paparazzo who had just witnessed Britney's emergence from the psych ward"...

1. Broadcasters have to start airing more frequent PSAs. Either one PSA and one "crawl" every 6 hours, 2 per 6 hours starting April 1, and one every 3 hours on October 1. At least one should be in prime time.
2. Broadcasters can follow a different plan suggested by the National Association of Broadcasters which calls for an average of 16 PSAs and 16 "crawls" per week, but nothing between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM will be allowed, and at least 4 need to be shown in prime time.
3. Starting November 10th, broadcasters have to display a superimposed "countdown" or animated graphic of at least 5 to 15 seconds. I already have one at the top of the page. Do you suppose they stole my idea? Just kidding.
4. Cable and Satellite operators have to put a notice in your bill about the transition. 
5. Big Boxes Beware: The FCC's Enforcement Bureau is sending "secret shoppers" to make sure that the red and blue shirted salespeople know what they're talking about and don't try and upsell you when all you need is a simple converter box. If you try and mislead them, or not accept their coupon (which I note hasn't been received yet), you might be in for a shock. You thought those police anti-Cigarette stings were bad? Wait until you mess with the FCC.
6. The winner of the 700mhz auction will have to ante up and play a role in educating consumers about the DTV transition. After all, they want to be able to use their new spectrum, right?

All of that is well and good, but it may be too little, too late. Plus, some of the Commissioners (McDowell) are taking the insane view that requiring broadcasters and other regulated entities to provide consumers with information is a violation of the First Amendment. I'm not going to dignify that with a response or a link. On the other hand, one man has the cojones to call this out as not going far enough, and is willing to say how badly we have dropped the ball on this.  In his accompanying statement, which I quote in its' entirety, Commissioner Adelstein (who is quickly becoming my new favorite Commissioner) takes his colleagues, the industry, and really this entire effort out to the woodshed for a well-deserved rhetorical spanking. Blisteringly, he writes:

This Order is long overdue.  

After much delay, the Commission is finally adopting measures to ensure that Americans 

are aware of the DTV transition.  I support this item because it is a critical firststep towards developing a comprehensive consumer education plan -an essential part of the broader DTV transition effort that has sorelylacked focus, leadership and coordination.  I am also pleased Chairman Martin has agreed to implement myproposal to reconstitute the Commission's intra-agency DTV task force that was improvidentlydismantled some time ago.  We should now act  on another one of my proposals -a federal government-wide, inter-agencyt ask force.

With disappointment, I dissent in part from this item because the majority of my colleagues have refused to agree to prepare a DTV transition report to Congress and the American people with a detailed plan to reach and assist at-risk, over-the-air reliant communities.  The Commission's unwillingness to prepare such a report ignores sound  management practices, snubs the recommendations of objective expert observers, and, frankly, defies common sense.  It perpetuates uncertainty at a time when everyone needs to know and  help execute the game-plan.  The quarterback needs to let other players know the play to  execute; that's the only waythis nation will win on February 17, 2009.  

Unfortunately, the Commission's refusal to prepare a DTV report to Congress is the latest illustration of its stubborn unwillingness to be proactive and to mitigate risks associated with the transition.  While oversight hearings and letters from Congress have certainly made us much more engaged, congressional prodding is not a substitute for Commission planning and leadership.  

The Commission's passive, reactive approach has had real consequences on the DTV transition.  It has unnecessarilymade the daunting task of executing an under-funded, nationaltransition even moredifficult.  For example, the lack of an analog pass-through feature in the vast majority of the digital-to-analog converter boxes available to consumers could have been avoided.  The Commission -the federal agency with a most talented, skilled staff of experts in communications -should have engaged the National Telecommunication Information Administration (NTIA) and participated in the converter box coupon rulemaking proceeding.  The NTIA, the Department of Justice, and the Small Business Administration have participated in Commission proceedings whenever theyhave had an interest to do so. The Commission should have done the same.  Instead of lending its expertise to the process, the Commission equivocated about its leadership role in the DTV transition which resulted in the failure to participate in NTIA's coupon converter box proceeding.  The Commission's lack of engagement with NTIA, particularly during the converter box coupon program rulemaking, has truly complicated the DTV transition for televisionviewers and the entire broadcasting industry, especially the millions of households that rely on Class A, Low Power and analog translator  stations. 

Our painfully slow action on a comprehensive education effort is yet another illustration of the Commission's stubborn unwillingness to take proactive steps and to mitigate risks associated with the transition. As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found, "not  having a comprehensive plan for the DTV transition limits the government's ability to measure efforts against planned goals, set milestones, and assess risks."

 For nearly two years, I have been calling on this Commission to, among other things,  develop "a coordinated, comprehensive public/private campaign to educate the American people" about the benefits of digital broadcasting and the steps households need to take to continue receiving the over-the-air signals of full-power television stations. I urged the  Commission to take advantage of the time we had -and have now lost-to make the DTV transition a real national priority by developing an outreach and education plan that integrated the efforts of other federal agencies, state, local and tribal governments and permitted private industry and consumer interest organizations to develop their complementary activities.  This coordination was, and still is, needed because of the limited federal resources we have to target, reach, inform and assist consumers to make the transition successfully. 

After nine months since Congress prodded us topaymore attention to DTV education, today the Commission is finally establishing baseline consumer education standards for broadcasters, cable and direct broadcast satellite operators and other industry regulatees.  This Orderis an important step towards developing a coordinated DTV transition message and national education effort.  For instance, we emphasize that consumers should specifythat this is a transition for "full power" stations.  The Commission's own message on posters and some  education materials still reads "analog broadcasting end February17, 2009," even though we know fullywell that is not accurate.  If we cannot get the technical details straight, how can we  possibly expect millions of casual observers to do so?   

While I approve many key features of this Order, I must dissent in part because we continue to demonstrate an unwillingness to marshal the expertise of Commission staff and the consultative services of public relations and marketing vendors to develop a report to the nation about the critical next and final steps necessaryto ensure a smooth transition on February 17, 2009. 

The DTV transition is indeed an enormous undertaking, and doomsday scenarios are counterproductive.  But we should have a plan in place so industry, Congress and the American people know what steps are coming next.  The half-hearted efforts of a reluctant regulatory agency have made the transition more difficult to administer.  As GAO recognized last November, "[s]ince FCC has the broadest telecommunication responsibilities in the federal government, it is in the best position to increase assurances of a successful transition through increased attention to high-level comprehensive planning, performance measurement, and risk mitigation efforts."5The Commission should begin to take a more proactive leadership role in the DTV education effort.  With less than a year left in the transition for full power television stations, time is running out.