Digital recording flap further slows HDTV sales

A new wrinkle in digital television's sluggish introduction goes far beyond the current dearth of programming and the high cost of the special TV sets needed to view it.

Consumer activists are up in arms over Hollywood studios' campaign for standards that would restrict viewers' rights to record digital programs. Such standards could make HDTV sets sold today obsolete because the sets are not hard-wired to protect copyrighted films and TV programs.

This month, Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell urged broadcasters, programmers and TV makers to voluntarily take steps to speed the transition from analog to digital television.

The top four networks and cable programmers were asked to provide interactive features or multicasting options with 50 percent of their prime-time schedule by the fall. By next January, Powell wants affiliates of the big four networks in the top 100 markets to broadcast pristine digital signals.

Television makers, meanwhile, are being asked to include digital tuners in their sets on a staggered schedule, with half of the larger sets equipped by Jan. 1, 2004.

The "Powell Plan," as it's being called at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, is being widely welcomed, especially by the local stations that missed a deadline to begin broadcasting digital signals.

About 300 stations met the May 1 deadline, but 800 have asked the FCC for extensions.

The digital TV conundrum stems from consumers reluctance to buy expensive HDTV sets while there is a dearth of digital programming. In turn, programmers have been slow to convert to digital because so few viewers can receive the signal.

One thorny issue sidestepped by Powell, however, was copyright protection.

Legislation introduced last month by U.S. Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., would require broadcasters, studios and equipment makers to develop anti-piracy standards within a year.

Such standards could require new sets to scramble or otherwise alter signals to prevent programs from being copied and distributed over the Internet.