|
The Community Broadcasters Association, the trade association of the nation’s Class A and Low Power Television (LPTV) stations, of which WYAT-TV40 is, filed suit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, formally seeking an order to the Federal Communications Commission to enforce the All Channel Receiver Act and to stop the distribution and marketing of digital television converter boxes that do not permit users to view analog television signals. The converter boxes, intended to allow the display of digital television signals on analog receivers, violate the All-Channel Receiver Act of the FCC’s Rules if they block reception of analog over-the-air television broadcast signals, because they do not meet the statutory requirement that they be "capable of adequately receiving all frequencies allocated by the FCC to television broadcasting." The suit notes that when the FCC ordered that all TV sets and other TV receiving devices include digital tuners, they emphatically acknowledged the importance of displaying all programming. Only full power television stations, like WDBJ7, or WSLS10, constituting less than one-fifth of all television stations, will terminate analog service on February 17, 2009. Most LPTV, Class A, and TV translator stations, like WYAT-TV40, constituting more than four-fifths of all stations, will continue analog broadcasting for an unknown period of time. So, if the FCC does not require the DTV converter boxes to comply with it own laws, many TV viewers, particularly those in rural areas, will find that many of the stations they now watch will become unavailable to them once they connect their converter box. |
