STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN
Re:  Third Periodic Review of the Commission’s Rules and Policies Affecting the 
Conversion to Digital Television: Notice of Proposed Rule Making, MB Docket No. 07-
91
The national transition to digital broadcasting is the Commission’s single biggest 
responsibility in recent history.  Similar to the nation’s preparedness for the unrealized 
Year 2000 computer threat that captivated our attention just seven years ago, the only 
proper response is to over-prepare.  The DTV transition will impact everyone in the 
United States, yet the primary responsibility to make this transition successful rests 
principally on the Commission and its regulated entities.  Accordingly, I am pleased to 
support this item because it advances our national preparedness for the impending digital 
transition, but there is much more work ahead.
That analog broadcasting as we know it will end forever on February 17, 2009, is 
made eminently clear throughout this item.  This hard deadline was created by Congress, 
and the Commission does not have the authority, the discretion or the inclination to 
change it.  In very real terms, the transition is far too important, and far too much is 
riding on its success.  
It is too important because the terrorist attacks of 2001 revealed the underlying 
weakness of our public safety communications infrastructure.  First responders are 
eagerly waiting for the 24 MHz of spectrum that Congress has allocated to serve as the 
foundation of a potentially inoperable system.  And far too much – including far too 
much money – is riding on the deadline to cause any uncertainty.  The Commission is 
statutorily required to commence an auction of the reclaimed 700 MHz broadcast 
spectrum no later than January 28, 2008, and to deposit the proceeds in the Digital 
Television Transition and Public Safety Fund no later than June 30, 2008.  The estimated 
market value of the reclaimed broadcast analog spectrum is upwards of $10 billion, 
according to the Congressional Budget Office.
I am pleased that this item informs full-power television broadcasters that the 
transition deadline is firm.  In today’s item, the Commission proposes that February 17, 
2009, will be the construction deadline for all stations that are building digital facilities 
on new channels.  And for stations whose pre-transition channels are the same as their 
post-transition assignments, we propose that those stations will have six months to 
complete construction.  The Commission also proposes to heighten the standard by which 
we will grant extensions to time to construct digital facilities.  I support these and many 
other proposals, such as developing an expedited procedure to process construction 
permits, because they should establish a regulatory framework that is firm and flexible.  
I am especially pleased that we decided to develop a simple form that will allow 
every full-power television broadcast station to inform the Commission of their status and 
what the additional steps the station needs to take to meet the February 17, 2009 deadline.  
While the form itself is important, what we do with them is even more important.  It is 
not sufficient to simply post them on a website.  I believe the Commission, as the 
principal agency in charge of the digital transition, needs to prepare a comprehensive 
report that aggregates and details where every single station is exactly one year before the 
transition ends.  Our failure to know and report this information to the American people 
and Congress would be an abrogation of our responsibility. 
Finally, while I am pleased that we are marching on with the mechanics of the 
digital transition, I am concerned that we have not yet provided broadcasters and the 
public with a concrete understanding of broadcasters’ public interest obligations in the 
digital age.  This necessary piece of the transition continues to lag further and further 
behind.  Congress made clear that broadcasters continue to have public interest 
obligations in the digital world, but left it up to us to specify how to apply them.  
As we continue to speed the arrival of the best possible digital television service 
to the public, an important proceeding that could bring certainty continues to linger at the 
Commission.  More than seven years ago, the Commission inquired generally how it 
should update broadcasters’ public interest obligations for the digital age.  In the Second 
Periodic Report and Order, we sought additional comment and stated our goal for 
prompt resolution.  Yet, no further action has been taken on this issue of enormous public 
and consumer importance.  Especially in light of our interest curtailing violence on 
broadcast television, I urge my colleagues to act on clarifying the public interest 
obligations of digital broadcasters as soon as possible.  A crystal clear digital picture is 
important, but quality programming is just as, if not more, important.
We owe it to the public and to broadcasters to devote sufficient time and 
resources of this Commission to establishing concrete, measurable public interest 
obligations to fulfill Congress’s vision of this enhanced digital viewing experience.  Let 
us not leave the public behind as we continue finalizing the blueprints for digital 
television.