Reuters reports that the House today approved legislation to complete the conversion to digital broadcasting by February 17, 2009. The DTV provisions are part of a bill aimed at cutting government spending that Reuters says was narrowly approved by the House and still must be passed by the Senate.
Under a deal negotiated by Republicans in the Senate and House, a $1.5 billion fund would be created to help some consumers buy converter boxes so existing analog television signals do not go dark when the transition is finished…The Senate previously had approved a $3 billion fund and set the date as April 7, 2009 for when television stations must end analog broadcasts and only air their digital signals. The House originally backed a $990 million fund and Dec. 31, 2008 as the date.Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 11:37 AM | Print | Comments (0)
The Wall Street Journal’s Dionne Searcey and Rebecca Smith report that Current Communications LLC and TXU Electric Delivery plan to offer broadband over powerline (BPL) service to more than two million customers in Texas.
The move marks the biggest deployment of broadband over power lines in the U.S. Customers who subscribe will be able to plug a device about the size of a cellphone into an electrical outlet and connect a cable from their computer for Internet access…Current said it hasn’t determined how much it will charge for the new service, but it is scheduled to be offered before the end of 2006.
The service will be offered in TXU’s traditional utility territory in North Texas, which has overlap with areas now served by Time Warner Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. as well as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., which are spending billions of dollars to upgrade their networks with fiber. Under the terms of the agreement, TXU, the biggest utility company in Texas, will sign a 10-year contract for $150 million to use Current’s technology.
Current, a private company controlled by the family of chairman William Berkman, plans to raise more than $100 million from its investors, which include Google Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Liberty Associated Partners LP of which John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. is a limited partner. TXU Corp. will also become an equity holder.Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 12:37 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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