dtv.gov. we have been in close contact with the broadcasters during the transition, and our communication has been essential to ensuring they maintain a high level of service to their communities. . . ññññ >> the commerce department authorized the transfer of approximately $10 million to maintain a robust call center for as long as necessary. on june 11, the initial transfer of $3 million was made.

that permitted the call center to step 4000 agents during the week of june 12. the call center received approximately 17,000 calls, since june 12, over 1 million calls. calls have declined precipitously. during the week following the transition, the help line averaged 43,000 calls per day. the week of june 22, we averaged 21,000 calls per day. we're also trending downward. the call center is open between 8:00 a.m. and midnight. we have dedicated about 40 agents to serve on a team to answer calls in specific markets where we are ironing out remaining issues.

the percentage of consumers to require -- to inquire about reception loss has been steadily decreasing. the number was 31%, it is now less than 20%. a lot of the calls involve coupon requests. those coupons should be issued shortly. despite the high volume of coupon requests around june 12, they can adhere to the nine business days for refills. i want to thank the commissioner and the former commissioner for the support for our operation. i would like to offer my personal thanks to many who work with our agents and support staff to answer all questions and to do so in a courteous manner. we will continue to monitor the call volume over the next couple

of weeks. thank you for this opportunity and i look forward to answering any questions you may have. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, mr. chairman and welcome back. on june 12, after four months of intense outrage and preparation, some 970 volt power television stations serving major markets in the united states switched exclusively to digital transmission for it the completed the national full- power digital transmission for a total of seven of the 39 previously analog stations now provide only digital service. -- 1739 previously analog stations now provide only digital service. close coordination with broadcasters and providers and short of the transition went smoothly for consumers watching

broadcast programming over cable and satellite. thousands of sites had to be ready to switch to digital feet. this part of the transmit -- transition went smoothly. the transition has not been without its residual talent desperate most notably, we have worked closely with about two dozen stations, primarily broadcasting on vhf channels, to iron out problems. our approach has been to assist the stations and the consumers as expeditiously as possible. if an immediate or temporary solution is available, we help to improve their situation. we have dispatched engineers to a small number of market to work with the affected stations to determine the extent of their challenges. this should help us understand

the problems they face and the impact of long-term solutions such as interference for the stations. for the vast majority stations, the transition has been successful and consumers have realized the benefits. we will continue to monitor the transition to ensure its continued success. i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of the staff of the media bureau during the transition and the exceptional work of the video division, in particular. this work is crucial to our shared success i would be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> maybe we will hear from roger bold black --goldblatt. >> as we discussed, the commission built up to the june 12 transition by ensuring presence in every media market across the country. if i had a map, we would have

pinpointed probably every city, every reservation you could find. we had more than 200 people put on an average of 1,500 miles on our rented cars. we were everywhere. they went to local communities, big cities, everywhere people would be affected by a transition period -- transition. the work of local governments and groups to prepare the population. seniors, minorities, low income, non-english speaking people, people with disabilities, and people live in rural or tribal areas. we have been everywhere. the difference in our teams may was palpable. our aim was to go anywhere we believed we would reach consumers who needed and wanted to make the transition but needed a helping hand. you could have them in our staff in libraries in los angeles and

a variety of other places. we also went to ball games, county fairs, barbecues and picnics. we went to any place where normal population would be and wanted to see an fcc person for it we went to help people. we did not just go for the food. our people serve as a line of communication to those to help understand what was going on out there. we not only continued to get the word out about the assistance available, we also reported back to headquarters what kind of calls we were receiving. people were working at the call centers everywhere. we were getting updates on converter boxes and we are concerned whether people could find these boxes. we would go to the stores. we would give weather reports that might affect the

transition. we had some cities that might have a tornado warning. the media bureau responded immediately. we had a great system. our field team worked around the clock to resolve any problems. our teams of more than 200 people put a name to the fcc. as commissioner, said so eloquently," we're no longer a bureaucratic agency in d.c." we employed extra help in the bigger cities where we were still dealing with certain issues. we have been visiting consumers to help them troubleshoot and let them know that we have not packed up and left. we have been appreciated.

we have continued to rely on our dtv vendors. they performed over 100,000 successful digital converter box installations. we have had walk-in centers that have assisted tens of thousands more people. we withamericorp volunteers -- we have partnered with americorp volunteer spirit -- volunteers. i would be totally remiss if i did not think commissioner cop, mcdowell, commissioner abel state. --adelstein. i have been exhausted and they have done all the work. they have been remarkable i would like to thank you all, very much. >> thank you. commissioner copps?

>> thank you all for your presentations. i can sum up my feelings in a single word -- whew! [laughter] this has been quite a ride. long before i begin actor and chair, i knew we were no we're ready for a transition on january 17. in january, we inherited a problem rather than a quarter of effort to deal with an impending crisis. i want to think congress and the president for the dtv delight act and for making the resources available to the recovery act to use the extra time to try to make a real difference. while it was not possible to compress into four short months all that should of been done the previous four or more years, we tried to do everything we could

to make up for lost time. with the tireless efforts of my colleagues and the amazing fcc team, in the private and public sector partners, we were able to make a lot of progress. we cut the number of completely unprepared households by over 65%. this is the call center, in home assistance, and other measures and that meant that we're destruction did occur, and i had warned that consumer disruption would occur, we were able to respond more quickly and comprehensively than would have been possible a few months sooner. this was the most extensive and finest ever i have been a part of in my 30 + years of service. if anyone asks if public/private part should can work, point them to dtv. if and when asked whether the government can work quickly and

efficiently or if it can conduct effective consumer outreach, point them to dtv. if anyone needs an example of what true public service looks like, tell them to look no further than that the hundreds of commission staffers here and around the country who have been devoting themselves up until today to making this transition work. in fact, this transition is such a singular event that we should not let the opportunity slip by to learn what we can from it. as acting chairman, i told people that we needed to develop a comprehensive -- a comprehensive report to dick -- to document what happened. i have often wished that someone had greeted the report after y2k. the traditions were different

from this. it required different things. it would have been a tremendous help to us in the dtv transition if we had had that record of how they went about it. i was part of that effort of trying to educate and support consumers leading up to the year 2000 and have government and the private sector court made it to prepare the country in that case. there is so much to be mined from the dtv experience. setting up a call center, consumer outrage, the close coordination of the commerce department and other agencies from the federal level to the hyper-local. the in the partnerships with groups like americorp and the international association of fire chiefs. these lessons seem so the media now. -- seem so immediate now.

they will receive in the forgotten area that is why we need to compile them and write them down and preserve them now. i think future commissions and future transitions will thank us. by creating a lessons learned report, i do that imply that the transition is over, far from it. these transition did not end on june 12 for it is a continuing process that will take place over coming weeks and months. for low-powered tv service, the coming years. the full power stations made it through june 12 without lingering problems. as with any transition of this magnitude, there are issues still to be worked for zero. technology changes are seldom if ever painless and when they don't get the attention they deserve until the last minute, some level of destruction is inevitable. as you heard today, our team,

working with affected consumers and the stations serving those consumers, will stay with this until these problems are resolved. this may be one of the final dtv updates at our monthly meetings, it is time to say thank you to our fcc team and everyone involved for the amazing an awesome work they did. first and foremost, our wonderful and dedicated fcc staff, from across every bureau and office, from the top down. folks gave their talents and their energy and a commitment to succeed like i have never seen before. it was not just a job for them. it was a mission. the enduring memory i will take away from this exercise is that determination that i saw when we were out there on the road and in this building here, too, not just to get through the day and do the job but to connect with

that senior citizen out there or the person who was technologically-challenged like i often am or people with disabilities. i want to help these people. i want to get this job done. that is the most inspiring thing you can see in public service. everybody in this room who had any role in dtv, i wish you would stand up. there is a few. [applause] my colleagues i thank for their tireless leadership and work. they help folks get prepared with our call center operations. without rob or jonathan, it would've been far less effective

than it was. i think my new colleagues and chairman for his tireless dtv out -- situations yet to counter this transition is not over. i know that under his leadership, we will stay on the job until it is done. i intend to participate in that every step of the way. our colleagues of the commerce department, other government agencies, and the white house, with whom we worked closely over the past five months are owed a huge thank-you. our industry partners, the stepped-up impressively, in preparing themselves and preparing consumers for the switch, hundreds of broadcasters around the country, much as broadcasters, cable, satellite, and consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers, all of them. also, all of the community churches, a civil rights groups, local governments and many others who reached out to friends, relatives, and

neighbors to make this transition happen as smoothly as it could. the country owes all of these folks a huge debt of gratitude and from the bottom of my heart, i thank them all. thank you. >> thank you, commisioner copps. commissioner mcdowell? >> i do not have any prepared remarks. i would like to incorporate the eloquent remarks of commisioner copps and thank him for his leadership on this issue i also want to thank you all for the dedicated leaders and every person who worked on dtv. thank you for making it a situation that was not nearly as bad as feared. that was only through hard work. that result was not inevitable, by any means. it was only through hard work. organization helped in the final weeks and months. i was especially grateful

because our confirmation hearing came four days after the dtv transition. i was delighted that did not become an oversight hearing on dtv, the dtv disaster that could have been. that was fantastic, thank you. we're not done, yet. we are in the midst of the tail and for the bulk of folks are satisfied but there are still a number of folks who are not yet satisfied. we still have another dtv transition coming at some point. we do not know when, for a low- power television and the translators. we have learned a lot of great lessons that will help us immensely for that. i have a couple of quick questions, if i may indulge. i know you're the right person, bob -- right before june 12,

nielsen was estimating the households. that is down to 1.5 million in a three week time. that is cutting the unprepared in half. do you have any better figures on that? the one to offer an estimate? >> the nielsen numbers were just out on a totally not ready households. i think it was 1.5%. i figure was 14 million television households -- 114.5 million households. >> i want to get away from percentages and talk about health sold. >> -- household. we cut by about 400,000.

>> so was about 2 million households? i know there is a margin of error in terms of estimates. it will be in precise. -- imprecise. that number has been replica of a half? that is remarkable and you deserve credit for that. the coupon program and expires july 31, correct? with the call center, i sense that we sought the spike in calls leading up to july 1 -- we saw the spike in called leading up to july 1. are we prepared for another surge before july 31? >> yes, sir, we are expecting those who applied for the coupon around the transition -- they will be coming back to us and about two weeks' time. starting in july, we will see

questions about the bond request and that will turn into something like converter box requests. there's a life cycle bear that the consumer follows. we are starting to see the status requests in our numbers. that is why there is a slight uptick this week. we will see that again next week with a coupon request and that will slide off as we get toward the end of the coupon program. >> so we flip before the transition, maybe half of our calls will be about coupons and now, the majority are of a reception issues? >> yes. >> as a result of that, the average call length has increased to 14 minutes? that is an indication that we are helping people for early on technical issues? >> yes. >> i will close with this -- we

do not have an estimate how many households are affected by the high v issue? >> we do not have a grid-like number for the places affected by that. they are in big cities like chicago, new york, philadelphia, places like that. it is not uniform. it is in the core market. we have engineers there, taking measurements, working with the station's collaborative lead to develop all sorts of approaches that might work to remedy those difficulties. >> do we sense that they issues thathigh v reception has waned. >> we look at the trend but it is downward but has not disappeared in those few markets. in philadelphia, for example, we

have increased power grants for these on an experimental basis to see of that will resolve the problem. we are continuing to do measurements to find out. >> very good, thank you. >> thank you. thank you for the excellent presentations and to all fcc staff who contributed to the effort for a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication. i know that individual from every bureau and office at the commission worked incredibly hard with the goal of making the transition as smooth and seamless as possible for the millions of americans who watch over the air tv. i have heard many stories of people sacrificing time at home, waking up at 5:00 and coming back at midnight to help americans, to help consumers

prepare for the digital television age, to make the transition. i thank you and i thank all of the staff for your service. i particularly want to applaud the several examples of very productive collaboration that i have learned about in the last few days. people who have been reading the news on this have seen it, as well. there was an excellent program collaborating with americorp. there was an innovative idea that i do not believe the commission has tried before. is an example of collaboration and innovation that i think should be highlighted and applauded. there was terrific collaboration, from what i understand, across the agency. we see it here in bureaus and offices, working together, combining different expertise

towards a very clear mission of making sure the fcc did everything it could to help with the transition. it is an example of how affectively the commission can work when it works together and how to effectively the staff and work when there is communication and collaboration across bureaus. i would like to note the collaboration across the government, the collaboration with the commerce department, the collaboration with the white house, the collaboration with other government agencies. knowing that no transition is perfect and there is work left to do, that is an example of good government and what can happen when different parts of our government work together with the goal of doing the right thing for the american people. we should and we will focus on

all the lessons learned from this. i would ask you to pull out what went right so that we can preserve it and repeat it. we will force ourselves to answer the question com code what went wrong" said that we can build on that. thank you again, commisioner copps, for your leadership on this. it was not easy to be thrown into this in the seventh inning. i have been watching the nationals -- [laughter] york e.r.a. here should be noted as compared to the sad experience my son and i have been watching and leading a collaborative commission to faculty ies.

to the foresight of congress and the president, the commission was given additional time to put together the kinds of innovative programs that i mentioned, to mobilize the resources that roger spoke about, andrew, bob and others, to provide very necessary support to both consumers and broadcasters during the transition. we heard about the million + calls that were handled. we heard about over 100,000 in- home installations by sec staff -- fcc staff. we have heard about the hundreds of fcc employees who headed out

to all the corners of the country to do whatever was needed. these important elements led to a remarkable feat of cutting the number of completely unprepared television households by over 68% since february. our country is much better off than it would've been if we had made the transition on february 17. i applaud your excellent work. to be clear, as both commisioner copps and commissioner mcdowell said, mission is not yet accomplished. today's panel reported that there is still consumers and broadcasters who need an fcc that is focused on the ongoing transition. i want to reiterate and make clear that it is important to me, that our doors and phone lines, the same amount of energy and innovn