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| Long title | An Act to amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to give the Federal Communications Commission certain regulatory authority over television receiving apparatus. |
|---|---|
| Acronyms(colloquial) | ACRA |
| Nicknames | All-Channels Act |
| Enacted by | the87th United States Congress |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub. L. 87–529 |
| Statutes at Large | 76 Stat. 150 |
| Codification | |
| Acts amended | Communications Act of 1934 |
| Titles amended | 47 |
| U.S.C. sections created | 47 U.S.C. § 330 |
| U.S.C. sections amended | 47 U.S.C. § 303 |
| Legislative history | |
| |
TheAll-Channel Receiver Act of 1962 (ACRA) (47 U.S.C. § 303(s)), commonly known as theAll-Channels Act, was passed by theUnited States Congress in 1961, to allow theFederal Communications Commission to require that alltelevision setmanufacturers must includeUHFtuners, so that new UHF-bandTV stations (thenchannels 14 to 83) could be received by thepublic. This was a problem at the time since most affiliated stations of theBig Three television networks (ABC,CBS,NBC) were well-established onVHF, while many local-only stations on UHF were struggling for survival.
The All-Channel Receiver Act provides that the Federal Communications Commission shall "have authority to require that apparatus designed to receive television pictures broadcast simultaneously with sound be capable of adequately receiving all frequencies allocated by the Commission to television broadcasting."[1] Under authority provided by the All Channel Receiver Act, the FCC adopted a number of technical standards to increase parity between the UHF and VHF television services, including a 14 dB maximum UHFnoise figure for television receivers.
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While the first U.S. commercially licensed UHF television stations signed on as early as 1952, the majority of the 165 UHF stations to begin telecasting between 1952 and 1959 did not survive. UHF local stations of the 1950s were limited by the range their signals could supposedly travel, the lack of UHF tuners in most TV sets and difficulties in finding advertisers and TV network affiliations. Of the 82 new UHF TV stations in the United States broadcasting as of June 1954, only 24 remained on the air a year later.[2]
Fourth-network operators such as theDuMont Television Network, forced to expand using UHF affiliates due to a lack of available VHF channels, were not viable and soon folded. The fraction of new TV receivers that were factory-equipped with all-channel tuners dropped from 20% in 1953 to 9.0% by 1958, a drop that was only partially compensated for by field upgrades or the availability ofUHF converters for separate purchase. By 1961, with 83 commercial UHF stations still on-air, the number of new TVs capable of receiving UHF as well as VHF channels had fallen to a record low of 5.5%[3] with a small number of viable stations situated in localities where alack of available VHF frequencies had forced early expansion onto UHF.
While publiceducational television was available from 105 US stations by 1965,[4] many of them in the already-crowded VHF spectrum, only 18 percent of the large number of UHF frequencies reserved for educational use in US cities were in active use. In areas where audiences had no UHF receivers, a station broadcasting above channel 13 was unlikely to survive.
Under the All-Channel Receiver Act, FCC regulations would ensure that all new TV sets sold in the U.S. after 1964 had built-in UHF tuners. By 1971, there would be more than 170 full-service UHF broadcast stations nationwide;[5] the number of UHF stations would grow further to accommodate new television networks such as thePublic Broadcasting Service (1970),Fox (1986),Univision (1986) andTelemundo (1987).
Today, UHF TV stations outnumber their long-established VHF counterparts, with more stations switching to physical UHF channels after the digital TV transition of 2009.
The act has most recently been used in 2005-2007 (47 CFR15.115 and47 CFR15.117) to require TV manufacturers to includeATSC-T (terrestrial TV) tuners fordigital television, in anyTV set that includes anNTSCanalog TVtuner. This requirement has been phased-in during the mid-2000s, starting with the largest TV sets. By early 2007, every device sold that was capable of receivingover-the-air TV (includingVCRs) was required to include anATSC tuner. Millions of dollars in fines were imposed in 2008 by theFederal Communications Commission against vendors, including various name-brand retail chains such asBest Buy,Sears/Kmart andWalmart. Best Buy is disputing both the fines and the authority of the FCC to impose the penalties;[6]Circuit City and Sears also disputed the charges.
In late March 2008, theCommunity Broadcasters Association filed alawsuit in theU.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeking aninjunction to halt the sale and distribution of DTVconverter boxes,[7] charging that their failure to include analog tuners oranalog passthrough violates the All-Channel Receiver Act.[8] Responding to CBA's actions, theFCC andNTIA urged manufacturers to include the feature voluntarily in all converter boxes, and manufacturers responded by releasing a new generation of models with the feature. In early May 2008, the D.C. district court denied the CBA petition without comment,[9] effectively telling the association that it had not exhausted all its efforts, and that there was not enough merit to take the case to the courts.
In July 2010, the FCC granted awaiver allowingDell,LG, andHauppauge to fail to include tuners for NTSC analog TV or standard ATSC digital TV inmobile televisiondevices designed to receiveATSC-M/H signals. While all full-power stations have been forced to turn off their analog signals, and mostlow-power TV stations therefore have been forced to digital as thede facto standard, the vast majority of stations do not transmit a mobile-TV signal, which will leave viewers with these devices unable to receive most broadcasts. Because LPTV stations have already had their limited financial resources drained by having to buy and install new digital equipment, it is unlikely that any LPTV stations will be seen on mobile TV because of this waiver, which also applies to other companies.[10]
It has been proposed in 2009 to requireHD Radio receivers to be included in allsatellite radio (SDARS) receivers, in response to themonopoly created by theXM/Sirius merger. All three useproprietary systems, and there have been no considerations to require the inclusion ofopen standards likeFMeXtra,DRM+,DAB+ orDMB, which are compatible anywhere outside of the United States. Anotice of inquiry (a predecessor to a fullrulemaking proceeding) is before the FCC asdocket 08-172. Abill had been submitted to theU.S. House as theRadio All Digital Channel Receiver Act[11][12] in 2008 but was not passed into law.[13]
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