Curiosidades americanas

In October 2001, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules governing public television stations’ use of digital technology. Public TV stations, like commercial TV stations, are in the process of converting to digital television (DTV). Today, more than 85 percent of public TV stations are on the air with a digital signal. [Ver texto em espanhol]

What Digital Television Means to You

Digital technology allows public TV stations to provide even more educational programming than they now offer. Digital technology also permits transmission of programming with higher resolution for dramatically better picture and sound quality. Digital technology includes “high definition television,” or HDTV, which has theater-quality pictures and CD-quality sound. Additionally, digital technology enables public TV stations to transmit several different programs at once in standard definition format. This transmission is called “multicasting.” Digital technology can also be used to transmit large amounts of data to a viewer’s computer or television set.

When the DTV rules were being developed, the FCC decided to give public broadcasters a great amount of flexibility to encourage their development of innovative services. The FCC rules require public broadcasters to provide at least one free video programming stream of at least the same quality we see today.

Beyond that, public broadcasters may offer a wide range of services that are “ancillary or supplementary” to their free video programming service. If they provide certain types of ancillary or supplementary services, like subscription channels, they must pay a fee of 5 percent of the gross revenues generated by those services to the U.S. Treasury.

The FCC has concluded that this flexibility must not be allowed to jeopardize the noncommercial and educational mission of public TV. Therefore, in addition to having to provide at least one free video programming service like all TV broadcasters, public TV stations must use all of their digital capacity to provide a primarily noncommercial, nonprofit, educational broadcast service. This requirement means that a “substantial majority” of a public TV station’s digital programming must be noncommercial. In addition, public TV stations may not air advertisements or commercials during any of their free video programming service. Like commercial broadcasters, if they choose to provide ancillary services that generate revenues, they must pay a fee of 5 percent of those revenues to the U.S. Treasury.

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Una vez que las emisoras dejen de emitir televisión análoga, los televisores análogos necesitarán equipo especial para recibir la programación por aire. Hoy en día, todas las emisoras de TV en el país cuentan con el uso temporario de un canal separado y secundario para facilitar la transición gradual de la transmisión análoga a la digital.
Para el 17 de febrero del año 2009, el Congreso espera que todas las emisoras de TV dejen de transmitir con tecnología análoga. Luego de esa fecha, los consumidores que aún posean antenas (incluyendo antenas aéreas o portátiles) para recibir transmisiones por sus televisores análogos deberán obtener una caja de conversión independiente para ver programación de TV por aire. Los televisores análogos que cuenten con una caja convertidora podrán mostrar programación digital, pero no en su mejor calidad.

A partir del año 2008, los consumidores que aún posean televisores análogos que reciben transmisión por aire podrán obtener hasta dos cupones de $40 cada uno para usarlos en la compra de caja convertidora, de la Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones e Información (NTIA). La NTIA publicará el
reglamento para la obtención y uso de estos cupones, en algún momento en el futuro. Puede encontrar información adicional visitando al www.ntia.doc.gov.