REMARKS OF ACTING CHAIRMAN MICHAEL J. COPPS
EN BANC HEARING ON DIGITAL TELEVISION
MARCH 5, 2009
Good morning and welcome to this special en banc hearing on the Digital 
Television Transition, which also serves as our March FCC meeting. Thank you to our 
panelists, some of them returning for another bat up, and for everyone else attending. I’m 
also pleased to see the media here. While I think our trade press has done a laudable job 
covering the fast-changing events of the past month, and most local stations too, I must 
say I have found the national news media coverage more than a little wanting. Most 
Americans watching the national news maybe heard a small snippet about the transition 
deadline being extended to June 12 but they heard precious little about the fact that many 
stations would transition earlier. I don’t know about you, but I ran into a lot of people 
who told me nothing would be happening transition-wise until June. That was, and is, a 
message bound to create unnecessary confusion. 
It was quite a month. Since we last met, the final transition date was officially 
moved to June 12, and February 17 is now viewable only in the rear-view mirror. 
February 17 didn’t turn out to be the giant switch-over originally planned—thank 
goodness, thank Congress and the President. Clearly, consumers were far from ready for 
the giant leap that would have been. So we took a smaller step. As you’ll hear today, 
while about a third of stations transitioned nationwide, mostly in smaller TV markets, 
only about fifteen percent of consumers were significantly affected. So we have a long 
way to go.
Given the time of year, I’m tempted to use a March Madness metaphor here—we 
may have survived the first round game, but now we need to work even harder because 
the games are only going to get tougher. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about the 
DTV transition, it’s that there are no analogies. There are no real precedents, nothing 
from which to draw parallels. This is why a phased transition is so helpful—we have 
additional opportunities to learn what works and what doesn’t and to apply those lessons 
as we move towards June 12. Too bad we had to get to a phased transition so painfully 
and slowly, but I think the end result is going to be very helpful. We can learn some 
lessons and make some mid-course corrections. That’s what we’re here to talk about this 
morning. 
For now, let me just set forth two of the key principles that I believe must guide 
us over the next few months. First, our efforts must put consumers first—particularly the 
most vulnerable among us. For many, television is not simply a source of entertainment, 
but a vital source of news and information that can literally be a lifeline in an emergency.
Second, we must tell the American people the truth. They don’t want their information 
sugar-coated, nor do they want it alarmist. They want it straight. They will forgive a lot, 
but they won’t forgive being lulled into a false sense that the transition will be less 
disruptive or less expensive than it turns out to be. If some of them are going to need 
new antennas to receive digital signals, let’s tell them so. If a station’s coverage area has 
shifted and some consumers won’t get a signal no matter what they do, let’s tell them so.
2
If that digital signal can sometimes be less robust than may have been thought, let’s say 
so. With apologies to Jack Nicholson, consumers can handle the truth.
We’ve made some real progress in the past month. I’m particularly proud of the 
outstanding work of our FCC team. You’ll see and hear about some of that work today.
You’ll see a new web-based tool developed by FCC engineers that will help consumers 
understand what stations they should be able to receive at their home address and what 
kind of antenna they might need to receive them. I may be biased, but I think it’s the best 
tool of its kind out there. You’ll also hear some of the stories of the FCC outreach team, 
a group of truly dedicated public servants who have traveled far and wide to make a real 
difference in communities across the country. I also want to thank my two colleagues, 
Jonathan Adelstein and Rob McDowell, both for the outreach they do and also the 
leadership within that they are providing on consumer outreach, call centers and much, 
much more.
But we at the FCC are only a small piece of the puzzle. Industries, consumer 
groups, civil rights and civic organizations, local governments, and many more have 
stepped up to help the country transition, and they have made a tremendous contribution 
by doing so. I thank them—but I also tell them their work is only partly done and the 
greatest part of the test is still ahead of us. I will spare everyone here—just this once—
my spiel on how public-private partnerships are so often central to overcoming national 
challenges like this. Suffice it to say that, working together, we can—we will—make a 
huge difference for consumers. Who knows—if we pull together as a team, we might 
even make the Final Four.