Clinton Administration Softens Support for Full ATSC Standard as FCC Decision Nears
Summary
The Clinton administration, through Commerce Department official Larry Irving, urged the FCC to adopt only essential elements of the digital TV standard rather than the full ATSC spec. The Grand Alliance, backed by Zenith and others, pushed back, insisting the complete standard should be approved without further delay.
U.S. Support on HDTV Softens
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As reported in the Electronic Engineering Times... The Clinton administration appears to have tempered its earlier unconditional support for the advanced TV standard now before the Federal Communications Commission. In a letter to FCC chairman Reed Hundt, a Commerce Department official urged the FCC to adopt "only the essential elements of a [digital] TV standard." Previously, Larry Irving, assistant Commerce secretary for communications and information, had urged the FCC to quickly adopt the full Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) spec while promoting migration to an all-progressive scanning format favored by key elements of the U.S. computer industry. Members of the HDTV Grand Alliance, which backs an FCC mandate of the full ATSC standard, insist it should be approved without further delay. Once approved, they said, interoperability talks with PC makers can continue. "It just doesn't make any sense to carve up the spec," said John Taylor, spokesman for Grand Alliance member Zenith Electronics Corp. Rather than adopting an "overly prescriptive" government mandate, Irving urged the FCC to let competing industry factions work out their differences over the advanced TV spec. "An industry-developed consensus on these difficult issues would be far preferable to a government-imposed resolution or no resolution of these issues at all," Irving said. |
