My name is Warren w Williamson III, of WKBN-TV in Youngstown,
Ohio. I have
been deeply involved in the journey towards advanced
digital television
from the first inquiries into the matter in 1979, For
the past nine years,
I have been involved in the intensive work on ATV issues
undertaken by the
FCC and the industry as Chairman of the Advanced Television
Test C enter,
and as former Chairman of MSTV and of the NAB ATV Task
Force. As a
professional engineer and a second generation broadcaster,
I want to help
usher broadcasting into the next millennium. Doing this
in a consumer
friendly and spectrum efficient way requires two things:
First the use of 6
MHz transitional channels from recycled spectrum; and,
second, the careful
assignment of such channels so as to double the number
of channels m the
existing broadcast spectrum.
The first, indisputable principle is that there can
be no roll-out of
universally available, frees over-the-air ATV unless
6 MHz transitional
channels are assigned to carry the service. This is
true as a matter of
technical and practical reality, Let's start with the
technical reality,
A High definition broadcast packs 19,3 million bits
of data per second.
This is five times the amount of information carried
by an analog signal.
Digital technology permits this signal to be compressed
into a 6 MHz
channel, Choose narrower channels and you lose HDTV.
Lose HDTV and for the
first time American broadcasters and viewers are forced
to settle for
inferior picture qualify. Furthermore, the loss of HDTV,
a prime attraction
of digital service, would seriously endanger the success
of any transition
to ATV.
Some think a television station could broadcast ATV
within the 6 MHz
channel now used to deliver its analog signal. All evidence
and all experts
point against it. The analog TV signal is highly susceptible
to degradation
from other in-band signals. After years of work, the
television industry
has managed to slip about 500 kilobits per second of
digital data into
analog signals. Even this transmission degrades the
analog service, and
this is .s mere 3% of the data necessary for HDTV.
Even if it were technically possible to do HDTV in narrower
channels, there
is no transmission system that can do it, Moreover,
there is no
transmission system that transmits over-the-air digital
television in any
format in less than 6 MHz channels. The Grand Alliance
system requires a
channel of precisely 6 MHz, not 5, or 4, 0r 2. It simply
cannot be scaled
back. Abandon the Grand Alliance System and we will
have wasted 9 years and
hundreds of millions of dollars developing it.
..The second thing I want to mention are the serious
interference concerns
that constrain the way we fit twice as many channels
in the existing
broadcast spectrum. Video signals must be robust enough
to navigate
mountains, trees and buildings, and to withstand the
interference caused by
multiple signals on the same or other nearby channels.
Stations operating
on the same channel must be separated by several hundred
miles. Channel
planning attempts to minimize interference, maximize
coverage, and control
the costs of consumers' sets.
The ATV channel plan we endorse is a masterpiece of
channel planning. For
the first time in history, adjacent channels would be
used to provide full
coverage without any additional spectrum. This requires
an engineered match
between digital and analog channels, taking into account
terrain and
interference effects. It assumes that broadcasters will
collocate their
digital and analog facilities and carefully coordinate
the radiation from
their antennas. This is the only way to ensure that
viewers don't lose
their existing service and that they can tune in the
ATV signals on their
local stations.
ATV channel auctions would torpedo this channel pairing
plan and the transition.
In the past six weeks, a number of proposals have been
floated to auction
some channels, such as Channels 60-69. All of these
channels are necessary
for the transition to ATV in the metropolitan areas.
This may not be true
in remote areas but that spectrum is worth very little.
Instead, let us,
broadcasters employ the expertise we've developed over
these last ten
years and get down to the business off ATV. The sooner
we begin, the sooner
consumers will receive a significantly upgraded service
and the sooner
spectrum will be cleared for other uses.
I worked at our station in 1953 when it was one of the
first UHF stations
in the country. UHF equipment didn't work well and consumers
had no sets to
receive the signal But we persevered and, with Congress'
help, UHF became
widely available and sets were manufactured to receive
it. Our risks and
hard work expanded television service to the public
We're ready to do it
again with our eyes open to the difficulties and our
hopes that
policymakers won't make it any more difficult.
