Good Afternoon . . .
Many years ago the Federal Communications Commission mandated television stations convert to digital technology and give up their current analog channels. The FCC did this wiuthout setting any technical standards or wondering how the transition would be funded and how consumers could afford digital capable telvision sets costing thousands of dollars. Just another unfunded federal mandate.
The upsdie of digital broadcasting is high definition television (HDTV) which provides sharper images and digitally enhanced sound. When stations are not broadcasting in HDTV they have the ability to multicast. That is to transmit multiple programming streams. Many stations want to take advantage of multicasting to provide additional local programs, weather and news channels, and revnue for the station.
Unfortunately for those stations using multicasting techniques most of the channels will only be seen by NON cable subscribers. Cable systems only want to carry the "primary" signal of the station whether it is broadcasting in HDTV or multicasting. Therefore, the other channels for cable subscribers are non-existant and tv stations lose millions of dollars on equipment and programming for these channels.
The FCC has joined with the cable companies and refused to rule that cable systems "must carry" all of the channels from local broadcasters. The original "must carry" rule for local stations saved many independent and small public television stations. Now the FCC has turned its back on all television stations which it forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to convert to digital broadcasting with no opportunity to EVER make back the investment.
This ruling and others like it is likely to cause the failure of the few remaining independent stations and owners and most small public broadcasting sttaions.
Top Technology News Sponsored by Audi | Reuters.com
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Using his signature Popemobile, Pope John Paul II left a Rome hosptial today and returned to the Vatican.
Reports say that the Pope has recovered from the respiratory problem that caused him to be rushed to the hospital 10 days ago.
Vatican officials and doctors will assist the Pope in fully recovering from his latest illness to be able to fully participate in Easter ceremonies.
BBC NEWS | Europe | 'Cured' Pope returns to Vatican
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James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) finally got the bill he wanted. The House passed a bill that would require states to verify the citizenship of applicants for a driver's license. Under the provisions of the bill states may only issues licenses to US citizens or legal immigrants.
Sensenbrenner said, "Today there are over 350 valid drivers license designs issued by the 50 states. We all know it's very difficult for security officials at airports to tell the real ID cards from the counterfeit ones."
The bill moves to the Senate where Republicans want it to be part of a larger immigration reform package.
Yahoo! News - House OKs Citizenship Check for Licenses
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In what may seem a surprise the Senate passed a bill that would limit class action suits. The bill is part of the President's tort reform package.
Under the legislation, long sought by big business, large multistate class action lawsuits like the ones that have been brought against tobacco companies could no longer be heard in small state courts. These suits would now be filed in the federal court system. Federal judges are often reluctant to certify class action suits.
The bill "is designed to rein in the lawsuit abuses, and it does just that," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. said. "A plaintiff may end up in federal court, yes, rather instead of state court, but no citizen will lose his or her right to bring a case."
The bill now goes to the House for hearings and debate. Senate bill 5 can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov
Yahoo! News - Senate OKs Limit on Class Action Lawsuits
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More tomorrow in the Morning Briefing.
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