Bipartisan members of the Senate and House are introducing legislation to make the Digital Opportunities Investment Trust (DO IT) for public television stations come to fruition.
This pleases the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), because the group wanted the legislation in exchange for an offer to shut-off analog signals before a national deadline.
John Lawson, APTS president and CEO called the legislation a win-win for local public television stations.
The bill would set aside 21 percent of the proceeds of the fund for Public Television Digital Education Grants. It would be administered by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting much the same way as the current fund for digital equipment.
According to the Digital Promise Web site, the trust will do for education what the National Institutes of Health do for health and what the National Science Foundation does for science.
"DO IT will be a grant and contract-making entity that stimulates and funds research and development to transform lifelong learning, training and teaching for the digital age," the Web site states.
Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) introduced S.1023, the Senate version of the legislation. In the House, Congressmen Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Paul Gilmor (R-Ohio) introduced the House version of DO IT in H.R. 2512.
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