The Aspen Institute, with the generous support of the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation, convened three meetings of the Aspen Institute Working Group on Digital Broadcasting and the Public Interest. This forum was established for two purposes: First, to provide a sound body of knowledge--in the form of issue analysis, options and models, but not specific recommendations--to serve members of the President's Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. (This committee, often referred to as "The Gore Commission," was co-chaired by Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and Leslie Moonves, President of CBS Television.) Second, to stimulate further examination and discussion of the changing communication needs of democratic society in the digital age--through dialogue and the publication of a volume of scholarly papers and conference reports.

The project has served as a resource not only for the President's Advisory Committee, but also for the Federal Communications Commission, Congress, and most importantly, the American public in thinking through how public interest standards should apply to digital television, and how our television system should work in a rapidly changing digital environment.

View the Digital Broadcasting and the Public Interest report. This report was used as the basis of the afternoon discussion at the March 2, 1998, President's Advisory Committee meeting, and has been praised by Committee members and others for its succinct analysis.

Activities:

Implementing the Public Interest Standard
June 17-19, 1998
Wye River Conference Center, Queenstown, Maryland

This forum examined each of the 4 approaches developed by the group in January 1998 for applying public interest standards to the digital media and considered the positive and negative outcomes that might result from implementing each approach. In addition to the four regulatory models on the table, the group also considered two additional alternatives: voluntary self-regulation and total deregulation. This session also addressed the broader, competitive media environment in which public interest obligations on digital broadcasters ought to be considered. In this new media marketplace, digital television broadcasters must compete with analog telecasters, cable networks, satellite television stations, and even networks delivered over the Internet. Participants developed concrete recommendations of how this broader context should be taken into account by the President's Advisory Committee and other policy-makers.

Enhancing Political Discourse
March 30-April 1, 1998
Wye River Conference Center, Queenstown, Maryland

This forum addressed the implementation of public interest obligations relating to political discourse, campaigns, and elections. Participants examined current proposals and models for political broadcasting--including free time for candidates, reduced advertising rates, political debates, and access to the airwaves for ballot initiatives. They also considered how digital broadcasting will change the political communications landscape and what comprehensive approaches might be suggested to improve the quality of political and public discourse.

Toward a New Approach to Public Interest Regulation of Digital Broadcasting January 25-27, 1998
Wye River Conference Center, Queenstown, Maryland

This forum considered the theoretical and legal bases for the imposition of public interest obligations on those using the electromagnetic spectrum for broadcasting purposes, as well as other public interest implications of the move to digital broadcasting. Several comprehensive approaches were evaluated as to their advantages and disadvantages, ranging from status quo public trustee regulation to eliminating public interest programming obligations altogether in exchange for payments to subsidize public telecommunications. The other two models, "pay plus access" and "pay or play," fall somewhere in between. A fifth model, voluntary self-regulation or deregulation, was addressed at a later meeting.