NAB CEO David Rehr: Feb. 17 Digital TV Transition a Success

March 5, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC — National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) President and CEO David K. Rehr testified today at an open meeting about the digital television transition before the Federal Communications Commission.

The following is a transcript of Rehr's oral testimony as prepared:

Chairman Copps, Commissioner Adelstein and Commissioner McDowell.

I want to thank you again, Chairman Copps, for the tremendous public-private partnership which is making this transition a success. Your leadership has been invaluable.

Today, I would like to make four points. One – the February 17 transition went well. Two – television viewers have gotten the DTV message. Three – challenges remain. Four – actions the FCC should take.

Let's go back to point number one. Broadcast television stations view the results from the February 17 transition as a success – essentially a "non event" where viewer confusion and calls were relatively low. Awareness of the DTV transition was virtually saturated across the country, with national awareness at 97% among all television households.

The FCC call center tally shows that very few viewers in the 12.4 million affected over-the-air households called. More than 99% of viewers did not call.

With the help of state broadcaster associations, NAB surveyed nearly 100 stations that went all-digital on February 17. The vast majority of these stations received between 50-200 calls each. There were similar numbers of calls at market-wide call centers.

Most stations were able to answer questions either on the spot or with a follow up call later in the day or afterwards.

Two: Television viewers have gotten the DTV message. National awareness is at universal levels. Importantly, 82% of over the air viewers had taken some action – from taking active steps to learn about the transition online or over the phone, to applying for a coupon, to actually purchasing a converter box or new TV set. 89% of all households know the transition affects antenna TV, as opposed to pay TV.

This success was driven largely by the broadcast television industry's $1.2 billion consumer education campaign. This campaign was professionally-designed, utilizing a TV industry pollster, two Los Angeles-based creative firms, and television station creative personnel. All of the messaging in the campaign was carefully tested in surveys and focus groups.

The industry also invested heavily in building and working with the DTV Transition Coalition of 241 national organizations. I would like to thank the coalition members, the Commission, state broadcast associations, David Donovan of MSTV, Kyle McSlarrow of NCTA and Gary Shapiro of CEA for partnering with us to produce this historic achievement. I am also immensely proud of every broadcaster in America.

Three: challenges remain.

The first challenge is re-branding the June 12 date. Even before the President signed the "DTV Delay Act," we distributed a new spot branding the new date. In fact, within 24 hours of the House passing the Act, all material, Web sites and collateral information were updated. We continue to work with local stations to drive universal awareness of the new date.

The second challenge is ensuring DMA leadership. Commissioner McDowell, we and our state broadcast associations have embraced your idea. Thank you for suggesting it. We are compiling a comprehensive list of market leaders in each DMA.

The third challenge involves scanning and re-scanning. NAB has previously distributed DTV action spots on these issues. We also released spots urging viewers to test their equipment early and to help family and friends who might have technical problems.

However, communicating scanning and re-scanning information is complicated and may require an in-person explanation by an FCC call center representative.

Notwithstanding its complexity, we are currently working on a new round of DTV action spots, in English and in Spanish. We are also producing a new 30 minute program which addresses this issue. We believe the combination of these efforts, along with a robust FCC call center, will go a long way towards alleviating problems.

The fourth challenge involves antenna issues. Our new round of DTV action spots and the 30 minute program will promote AntennaWeb.org and DTVAnswers.com which have the information consumers need about antennas. NAB's Nightlight programming also covers the antenna issue in detail. Stations are covering this in newscasts and other long-form programming.

The fifth challenge is the potential loss of service due to changes in digital coverage areas. The NAB/MSTV comments, filed yesterday, discuss this issue in depth. We believe that there must be a balance between the important goal of providing consumers with information and avoiding confusion and unnecessary calls.

To help viewers, NAB is urging stations predicted to lose 2% or more of their analog viewers to provide general information, over-the-air, and importantly, telling them how to obtain specific information with tools like AntennaWeb.org.

Finally, our recommendations for FCC action.

• Extend flexibility to stations. Some stations will need to terminate analog service prior to June 12. All stations should be empowered to tailor their DTV messages for their individual station's circumstances.
• Use FCC money wisely – and do not duplicate industry efforts on messaging or research.
• Bolster the FCC call center and train operators. The $90 million the FCC will receive via NTIA and from the economic stimulus package should fund this effort.
• Expedite the grant process to get funds to grass roots organizations quickly to spread the word and help viewers upgrade. Commissioner Adelstein, you have been a long-time champion of this cause and we wholeheartedly support it.
• Eliminate consumer education requirements for stations that have already transitioned. They confuse viewers who are not the target audience.
• Finally, substantially reduce the final week of crawls for stations transitioning early to eliminate viewer fatigue and hostility.

In closing, as you all have heard me say here before, we cannot forget the benefits of digital television: crystal-clear pictures, phenomenal sound and more channels and services, and its free.