Further Comments From Sinclair on DOD and 8VSB DTV Standard
Summary
Sinclair Broadcast Group's Mark Hyman argues that CEA's lobbying effort to remove the Pentagon from DTV standard debates backfired, as DOD officials reaffirmed that 8VSB fails to meet military requirements for portability, mobility, and indoor reception. The unintended consequence expands Congressional oversight of the DTV standard beyond Commerce Committees into defense-focused Armed Services Committees.
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Further Comments From Sinclair
| The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) high-level lobbying effort aimed at reversing the Pentagon's stand on the U.S. digital television (DTV) standard may prove to be a costly blunder due to unintended consequences. CEA and a minority of consumer electronics manufacturers launched an intensive lobbying effort to change the Pentagon's position, but may have been sadly disappointed when Pentagon officials, citing jurisdictional concerns, only removed itself from direct involvement in the civilian DTV standard. Moreover, Pentagon officials reiterated the position that the U.S. DTV standard fails support the "unique needs" of the Department of Defense (DOD). The January 13th meeting in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (OASD) included representatives of the Electronics Industry Association, CEA, ATSC, French firm Thomson, South Korean-owned Zenith Electronics, Nxtwave, Dick Wiley and a battery of lawyers. The meeting was opened by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (ASD C3I) Mr. Art Money who stated that the DOD requires "DTV to support portability, mobility, and worldwide inter-operability" and that the U.S. DTV standard fails to accomplish that. Meeting participants reported that the assembled CE representatives were ashen-faced at those remarks, but quickly recovered when Secretary Money stated that DOD faced jurisdictional concerns in the direct implementation of DTV for civilian use. A brief statement by DOD was released to a small number of select journalists on January 14th. However, a more detailed letter was sent to the Federal Communications Commission outlining DOD's requirements and indicating that DOD would have to pursue other options in order to develop a DTV system that meets its needs unless major improvements were made to the U.S. standard. Further, DOD would continue to monitor civilian DTV developments and intends on convening an "industry day" in the next few months. During the meeting, CE representatives stated that current DTV reception can be achieved "75% of the time using an outdoor antenna." The ASD position is that indoor reception should be achieved 97% of the time. Further, CE officials stated that the current standard can be made to work "in three to five years." The press release at (http://www.prnewswire.com/gh/cnoc/comp/110203.html), which provides greater detail than the brief DOD statement, was reviewed and cleared at the Assistant Secretary level prior to being released to the media on January 14th. In a series of telephone conversations prior to and following the manufacturers' meeting, OASD senior officials underscored the importance of indoor reception and use of portable and mobile devices for DTV. In addition, OASD officials are "very interested in mobile reception of high definition television" and they do not see that possible using the 8VSB modulation standard. The costly error for CEA, Nxtwave and the two CE manufacturers is the DOD is signaling that the failure of 8VSB will preclude DOD from using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to meet its needs. Pentagon-watchers know that COTS has been a stringent requirement of DOD procurement since the late 1980s. The unintended consequences of this meeting is that it expands the jurisdiction of this issue beyond that of the House and Senate Commerce Committees and into the purview of the House National Security and Senate Armed Services Committees. There is ample precedent for DOD using COTS equipment for television-related applications. In 1995, DOD launched the Global Broadcast Service (GBS), a direct broadcast satellite service with military applications, using COTS equipment. The inability of DOD to use COTS for DTV applications will not be warmly received by Congressional appropriators and the two defense committees. While DOD has removed itself from direct involvement in civilian DTV development, the proverbial cat is out of the bag. The Pentagon has stood fast on its view that 8VSB fails to meet its needs. The OASD has supported the conclusions reached by the DOD's Video Working Group, and the failure to use commercially-available equipment for DOD needs will increase Congressional scrutiny of the DTV standard. Mark E. Hyman VP, Corporate Relations Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (410) 568-1565 (410) 568-1555 (Facsimile) www.sbgi.net |
