The extra channel allows broadcasters to offer high-definition pictures and better sound and even allows stations to air up to six different signals at the same time.
Once a station turns off its old analog channel, only those homes that have acquired a new digital TV or subscribe to a premium cable or television service will be able to pick up the local signal.
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The National Association of Broadcasters "recognizes the importance of public safety officials communicating during emergencies, and we're working with Congress and the FCC to develop appropriate DTV [digital television] timelines that don't disenfranchise viewers from local television," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the broadcasters trade organization.
Congress originally set a deadline for the broadcasters to give up their analog channel by Jan. 1, 2007. The legislation included a caveat, however, that effectively rendered the deadline meaningless by allowing broadcasters to keep both channels if fewer than 85 percent of the homes in a station's market could not receive a digital signal.
At a Senate hearing this week, Lowell W. Paxson, chief executive of Paxson Communications Corp., called the legislation to take channels by 2007 an "illegal taking of our rights." He said that if the bill becomes law, broadcasters will fight it in court.
Federal officials are not the only ones interested in dislodging the broadcasters from the analog spectrum. Technology companies are also eager to get their hands on the airwaves, most of which are expected to be sold at a government auction, and have been quietly lobbying Congress and the FCC to keep the pressure on the broadcasters to give up the channels. Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chipmaker, is also interested in some of the spectrum now controlled by the stations between channels 62 and 69. Intel argues that the spectrum could be used to expand the reach of high-speed Internet services. "We think this spectrum would be ideal for wireless broadband uses such as WiMax," said Peter K. Pitsch, Intel communications policy director.
WiMax is a nascent technology that allows users to more universally access the Internet over wireless connections. Intel views WiMax as a potential growth market for its chips.
The strength of the signals would allow the owners of the airwaves to transmit data to personal computers and palm-sized computers at relatively low costs, Pitsch said.
