Digital Television Consumer Education Act

In the 110th Congress, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) introduced the Digital Television Consumer Education Act of 2007 (Govtrack). The bill is designed to better inform consumers about the upcoming DTV transition by requiring retailers to prominently display consumer alerts about the digital television transition, cable providers to include information about the transition in consumer bills, and broadcasters to report to the Federal Communications Commission on a quarterly basis public education programs about the transition, among other efforts. The bill was introduced in January, but has not yet been scheduled for debate.

The transition to DTV will require content providers to produce programs entirely in digital formats; television broadcasters and cable and satellite companies to deliver programming on digital signals; and consumers to purchase televisions or set-top boxes capable of receiving or converting digital feeds.



Related SourceWatch resources

 * See the other articles at the Telecom, Media and Intellectual Property Policy (U.S.) portal.
 * See the main Congresspedia article on Digital television.
 * See the main Congresspedia article on Spectrum.

External Resources

 * Lennard Kruger, The Digital TV Transition: A Brief Overview Congressional Research Service, Aug. 12, 2005.
 * Lennard Kruger, Digital Television: An Overview Congressional Research Service, updated Jan. 23, 2007.