Powell Plans Vote on Digital TV Switch

Michael K. Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, plans to hold a vote this year on a plan to require U.S. television broadcasters to convert to digital signals by January 2009, a Powell aide said.

Powell, who supports the plan, has decided to schedule a November or December vote even after a Senate committee rejected a similar proposal last week, said Jonathan Cody, a legal advisor to Powell on media regulation.

A switch to digital TV, which offers superior pictures and sound, would let airwaves now in use be distributed for police and fire-safety purposes and be sold to Internet and other companies.