Digital TV National Consumer Advisory Board Report - Part 2

Here's part 1.

Presentation by Rick Chessen, Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau
- The Media Bureau is working on DTV transition issues.
- Rules are still being developed but the foundation is in place.
- Consumers need information about why they should buy DTV and how it is better than analog.
- Although there are not a lot of interactive programs, that may be the next area of growth.

Content protection
- Programs being broadcast must be protected from being illegal distributed while giving consumers the ability to have the programs for their personal use.
- Content protection has to include accessibility features.

Distribution of DTV
- The price of a DTV has dropped to below $1,000.
- The FCC is trying to ensure that all TVs, whether flat screen, plasma, small or large size, etc. are DTV.

Consumer Information
- Labeling is being discussed to make it easier for consumers to understand the capabilities of TVs.
- A survey found that 40% of Americans haven't heard of this transition to DTV.
- It's expected that soon, with cooperation of the electronics industry, all TVs sold will have both analog and DTV capability.
- In the future, only DTVs will be available.

Pam Gregory, FCC Disability Rights Office (DRO)
- The DRO doesn't work on captioning issues but works closely with the bureaus that do address them.
- The FCC will hold a summit on March 26 on access issues related to homeland security.

Martha Contee, FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
- This bureau facilitates consumer complaints by web, e-mail, voice phone, TTY, fax.
- They address only informal complaints; formal complaints are passed to the enforcement bureau.
- They follow how complaints are referred and tracked.
- A continuing problem with captioning-related complaints is that the FCC does not get sufficient information to take action.
- In January 2004, of 38 complaints related to captioning, only 7 had enough information to act upon.

Information from the question/comment period following the presentations:
- A Buyers Guide for Consumers on Buying DTV is being prepared by the FCC.
- Some people will be impacted by monitors sold without DTV receivers; Gerry Field of WGBH has talked to some manufacturers and they now better understand the issue.
- Reference was made to a Broadcast Content Protection proceeding with a comment deadline of March 3 that might impact captioning.
- For DTV problems related to captioning, there are 2 strategies: either to request rulemaking to clarify questions about the regulations or to file a formal complaint.
- Some reports are coming in from consumers related to TiVo (a device which records program) and DirecTV. When played, the captions and the video were not in synchronization. The problem was traced to compression. DirecTV is aware of the problem and a fix is being worked on.

Consumer Advisory Board Discussion

1. Regulations require that any TV with a screen that is 13 inches or larger has to have a built-in caption decoder chip. A complaint was filed by consumer organizations many years ago, related to captioning and PC-TV, on which no action was ever taken by the FCC. At the time, a large number of PC monitors of less than 13 inches-- and could be used as TVs -- had no cards with captioning capabilities. While the vast majority of monitors sold today are larger than 13 inches, it's still a relevant complaint because the number of devices with screens smaller than 13" and great resolution will spread. Larry Goldberg of WGBH passed around a PDA running a Star Wars movie segment with captions, which were small but readable.

2. Consumers have great difficulty when shopping for a DTV and requesting a demonstration of the captioning features. Among the problems experienced are the confusion over what is a DTV. High definition (HD) TVs and large displays do not always have DTV capability. There are confusing terms like HDTV monitor and HDTV ready. Plasma screens have a separate box to control the video. These may not be connected to a device. Stores also control the programs that are shown to demonstrate the TVs, often in way that will make their pictures appear high quality, and to show co-op advertising. Thus the program available for testing a TV may not have digital captions. In addition, the sales people often have very little understanding of captioning and how to operate the caption features.

Recommendation: If there is a set-top box with the TV, ask for its remote control. You may have to hunt or be persistent in your request, because some stores hide or lose them. One success is that consumer feedback is causing more TV manufacturers to put a caption button on the remote. If you don't see one, press the button for the menu and you should see something for closed captioning. An analog TVs is likely to have a caption on/off button, or a choice between CC1, CC2, etc. A DTV will give you choices of features such as different fonts, size of font, background color, and caption color.

Recommendation #2: WGBH arranged for demonstration of four different DTV setups side by side at our meeting. Take your time and try all the features. The same font can look clearer and more pleasing on one TV than the other, and I also noted some real differences in how smoothly the captions scrolled up (without jerky movements) on one model.

3. We discussed laws that might be used to require stores to always have captions activated on all their display TVs. Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act covers only telecommunications products and services, not TVs. A question was raised about whether ADA Title III for access to public places might be used. This will need to be explored.

4. WGBH was asked to develop a fact sheet with a checklist that would help consumers better understand what they should look for when shopping for a DTV.

5. WGBH was also asked to assist in listing all DTV manufacturers and getting information about an appropriate contact person for each manufacturer. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network coalition will then draft a letter asking each manufacturer to list all available DTV models and show which have the required DTV captioning features (called 708 captions, as opposed to the analog's 608 captions). It was suggested that the manufacturers be given 6-8 weeks because collecting this information may take them some time. It may be possible to enlist the Consumer Electronics Association to support this project.

6. The FCC's Consumer Advisory Council will have a meeting in March; it was suggested that problems related to captioning and DTV be raised during the public comment period.

7. Another avenue consumer organizations should look at is involving a network of consumers across the US in requesting information from local stations what specific programs are being broadcast with DTV captions.

Special Resource Note:

Gerry Field of WGBH told me about an interesting website resource: www.titantv.com

This website has been around a while and Gerry said it was recently revamped. I went to the TitanTV home page and clicked on a link that took me to a page to find the digital TV stations in my area. You type in your address and zip code, and it gives you a table of the results and DTV channels for them. For me, these include WRC, WTTG, WJLA, WUSA, WDCA, WMPT, WETA, WBDC, WNVT, WNVC, and WPXW. WFDC is due to start March 1, 2004 and WHUT is "under review". If I click on the TitanTV.com button at the bottom of the table, it shows digital channels available via cable or satellite.