Ron Amundson’s Political Blog

Senate approves four-month delay to digital TV changeover — OrlandoSentinel.com.

This was a good call, albeit it doesnt solve the underlying technical issue, which is lack of coverage, which could result in no OTA (over the air) availability for some, and drastically reduced selection for others.  In some cases, its possible a high gain antenna, tower, and amplifier may be adequate, in others… it will take a change in the laws, the private sector cannot be expected to solve this on their own.

The reason being, to solve the problem of blackout areas, assuming the end customer has done everything on his end possible, it will require one or more of the following. Greater transmitter power (a regulatory issue… and many digital transmitters run at significantly lower power than their analog predecessors), more translators (low powered tv transmitters operating on unused channels to provide specific coverage to a local area), and/or potentialy a requirement that broadcasters must ensure their coverage area remains the same on digital as it did on analog.

The end result, hugh cost increases for tv stations, and potentially tons of regulatory hoops to jump through… then add in an assurance of virtually nil increase in market size, and its not justifiable. Ie, providing service to 1000 existing viewers in a market of hundreds of thousands just doesnt add up.

Now some would say tough, folks should just switch to satellite or cable, but in todays economy, more and more are going to OTA, rather than sat or cable. Then add in the fact this whole deal was done, not so much as to increase quality for the average Joe, but to bring in huge revenue in spectrum auctions for Uncle Sam. Sure, in some areas, clear spectrum is rare, but for vast portions of the US, its amazing how little spectrum is really used, and for where it is in use, how inefficiently it is used.

And yet others will say, who needs OTA TV, its not a right or anything… well there is a public safety aspect to this. Tornado warnings, and other emergency comms are typically disseminated via TV. Sure, radio does some, as does even the internet, but the primary method is via TV. To drop the coverage from entire communities is just asking for liability headaches should something bad happen, and thats apart from any injury or loss of life aspects.

Then add in the 4 month delay, and wow, we are right in the middle of Tornado season. At least the bill buys more time to get more of the tech issues solved, and it is much easier to do antenna work in the summer than it is now. On the other hand, the way things normally go, it will just be a delay, and until analog goes away, we really wont know how bad things truly are…. and then the mad scramble begins. Hopefully more and more testing will be done, and heat can be applied to the legislature, well before segments of rural America go completely dark in the midst to summer.

House Journals – Minnesota House of Representatives

Being this session should be pretty interesting, I’m posting the Journal link here so I can find it on any machine. Its interesting to see the magnitude of proposed legislation, especially legislation that adds to the budget that has already been presented. I sort of get the feeling, that few if any want to propose bills which reduce the scope of government, move services to the volunteer sector, or reduce spending. I may be exceedingly liberal in a lot of areas, but when it comes to govt size, or govt spending, I’ve seen the waste and overkill (granted it was years ago), the solution is to stop now, address the problems, all the while “keeping the least of these mind” and go forward… not just spend on whatever lobbyist of the day wants a deal.

Egads, everyone dependent upon govt funding is having a bird, and THEIR program is an absolute must, and of course, for each dollar spent, more revenue is generated….. Sure

Granted, in some cases, spending a dollar now, will end up being revenue positive… in some cases, perhaps in under a year, in others, its a long term investment in the future. The problem is, there are only a limited number of dollars to go around, unless of course, we convince MN citizens to buy stuff like mad, and get 50%+ of our citizenry to put in 80 hour work weeks to make it happen. And yes, I am well aware there are those in the lower economic strata already doing 80+ hour work weeks just to survive, and they are not buying anything beyond necessities. If anything, tax revenue is likely to continue to drop short term, irrespective of whether tax rates are increased or decreased, long term wise, obviously things would be way different.

The end result, things will get cut in the short term, there really is no way around it… and the challenge of course is where to make the cuts. Granted, there is a ton of efficiency that could be wrung out of the system, pretty much in every arena. Thats a lot of savings right there, and likely it COULD happen without much of a change in the availability or quality of services. The difficulty is silos….

Each silo looks out for its own, and maybe it might look out for a cooperative partner. Ie the sheriffs dept wants the courts funded, so that small crimes can still be prosecuted, rather than just getting thrown out. Yet, the sheriffs dept obviously doesnt want to be subject to cuts either… Secondary ed doesnt want cuts to the university system, as they need to be able to continue their education to remain licensed… but they dont want their funding cut either.

The solution, these different silos need a way to communicate and work together. Ie, if the courts get fully funded, and the sheriffs dept has to take a 30% budget cut, perhaps the courts best not be funded at the level proposed. If the university system gets cut, so teachers have to travel 200 miles to continue their education requirements for licensing, perhaps they need to consider larger class sizes. Then ripple this through all the areas of govt, such that they see they do need to work together.

And working together, perhaps they can share ideas to save… imagine the pockets of great ideas in the multitude of county govt offices, that never get communicated to other counties, or sheriff depts or the university system. Or even get more radical… perhaps a resource is only at a 40% utilization in one area, perhaps the sheriffs dept, and the university end up sharing resources? Why not look at cross dept geographically, as well as functionally for sharing?

Granted, such proposals kill off power structures, and may require legislative changes… ie the handing of information is not standardized, and regulatory issues may preclude cross funtional sharing of resources… the solution is to change the regs, and make it happen. There are a multitude of ways to save with little damage to services rendered, except to fiefdoms and power structures. The question of course is, will the power brokers and silo owners be willing… or will they end up going down with their ship when the money runs out. It will be interesting.