Markey: Push For Digital Standard Was Game-Changer [Multichannel News]
How long have we been working toward a digital conversion of all television broadcasts? According to Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), he's been pushing the idea since 1987. And he's absolutely right. I personally have testified around a half dozen times about the transition over the last decade urging the Congress to move ahead with the transition. This country's policy makers have been working for over twenty years to achieve today's digital transition deadline.
In this Multichannel News article, Representative Markey reminded us that he held the first hearing on HDTV in 1987, as then-chairman of the House Telecommunication Subcommittee, and has played a leadership role, along with Congressman Fred Upton, (R-MI), in the effort to bring today about ever since.
Markey says that "I never imagined that it would take almost 22 years to reach this moment [the DTV transition]." In 1990, Markey's efforts convinced the FCC to begin pursuing a digital standard for television broadcasts, a critical step in the process.
It wasn't until after 9-11 that the political determination to force this transition solidified. Shocked by the troubled communications between the different emergency services in New York and Washington, members of Congress committed to using some of the freed-up analog spectrum for emergency agency communications.
It's been a long time coming but the end is finally upon us.
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