McCain aims to end DTV transition by '09.(News)

Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and frequent critic of the TV broadcast lobby, plans to introduce a bill Tuesday that would end the transition to digital TV at Jan. 1, 2009. McCain's move likely will pre-empt the current chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen.

Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who said last week that he is preparing a similar bill, but did not give a timeframe for introducing it. The McCain bill will be similar to legislation known as the Save Lives Act (the Spectrum Availability for Emergency Response and Law Enforcement to Improve Vital Emergency Services), which he introduced last year, but will reduce the set-top box subsidy from $1 billion to $463...

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