United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2005-02-17 monographic deposited born digital 25 p. GA 1.13:GAO-05-258T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T P0b002ee18038279b f:d05258t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T GAO-05-258T Broadcasting standards Cable television Comparative analysis Cost analysis Subsidies Television and television stations Television broadcasting Television equipment industry Communication satellites Cost estimates Digital broadcasting Testimony A17857 The digital television (DTV) transition offers the promise of enhanced television services. At the end of the transition, radiofrequency spectrum used for analog broadcast television will be used for other wireless services and for critical public safety services. To spur the digital transition, some industry participants and experts have suggested that the government may choose to provide a subsidy for settop boxes, which can receive digital broadcast television signals and convert them into analog signals so that they can be displayed on existing television sets. This testimony provides information on (1) the current distribution of American households by television viewing methods and whether there are demographic differences among these groups; (2) the equipment required for households to receive digital broadcast signals; and (3) the estimated cost to the federal government, under various scenarios, of providing a subsidy for set-top boxes that would enable households to view digital broadcast signals. We developed estimates of the cost of a subsidy for set-top boxes using data on household television characteristics, expected set-top box costs, and varied assumptions about how certain key regulatory issues will be decided. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T.pdf GAO-05-258T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-258T Testimony GAO-05-258T; Digital Broadcast Television Transition: Estimated Cost of Supporting Set-Top Boxes to Help Advance the DTV Transition; Broadcasting standards Cable television Comparative analysis Cost analysis Subsidies Television and television stations Television broadcasting Television equipment industry Communication satellites Cost estimates Digital broadcasting