Bill Would Mandate, Subsidize Digital TV

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain plans to offer a bill today that would require broadcasters to air only the new, crisp digital television signals by 2009 and would subsidize the cost for those consumers who rely on traditional television to see those signals.

His measure would provide as much as $1 billion for consumers, particularly lower-income households, either to buy a device that would convert the digital signals back into a format that they could watch or to install cable or satellite service.

The National Assn. of Broadcasters said it would oppose the bill because it would not cover all the traditional television sets in American households, estimated at more than 70 million.