some point to low power televisions and translators. i do have a couple of quick questions. this has been sort of the past few months or days now. giving the right to ask this. the last or right before june 12, the kneelson was estimating roughly 3 million households that were unprepared. the last i saw, that was down to .5 million. do you have any better figures on that? >> the numbers were just out, unready households was 1.5%. >> 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 innovation that we have seen will remain in the days ahead for consumers who have not yet made the transition. the commission cut the number of on prepared --un prepareds to 68%. we need to make sure that everyone who has an issue, we have a process to hear it and make sure the government is doing everything it can to ease the transition. we also include broadcasters with that. there are some issues out there. we have heard about high v.

there will be others. the commission doors will remain open. we need to lessen the broadcasters to make sure they can reach their audience as effectively as possible. rick, i look forward to hearing from you and bill, organizing the effort on lessons learned. many things went right. what went wrong and to present what we learned and how we can do better in the future. this is how the agency will grow. thank you all. if there are no further comments, i thank you for this presentation and that, madam secretary, if you can announce the second presentation? >> the second presentation will be made by blair love been and will discuss the process for developing a national broadband plan. -- blair levin.

>> thank you. [no audio] >>blair? before you begin, let me thank commissioner cox, and your staff and scott deutschman. congress has entrusted the fcc with the responsibility for developing a strategic plan for our country to ensure that all people of the united states have access to broadband capability. we look forward to hearing your status report. i want to say how delighted i am that you have agreed to take on this task and have come back to the commission to coordinate the agency's broad band work,

the essential broadbent work that the country needs to tackle. you are one of the leading lights in this sector your deeply familiar with the fcc, with capital markets, with technology, and with the needs of consumers in the 21st century. it is not a small thing that you have elected to come back to public service. your service has already been and will be invaluable to the commission and the country, as we take on the critical responsibility congress has given us. i look forward to your presentation. >> thank you very much. it is a pleasure to have an opportunity to work with you again. let me start by also thanking chairman copps who asked me to come in and help coordinate desperate uns gutted a terrific job. -- you and scott did a terrific job.

scott did a really terrific job pulling together resources of the commission. i would also like to follow the last discussion by noting that as dtv was enormously collaborative effort between government agencies, it is a real -- the mission is very different, the sense of mission, the importance of dedication and you have created a great example for all of us. we will talk about the broadband plan that congress asked us, the fcc, to provide 230 days from now. before i do that, i want to know -- to note that there are significant other congressional mandates. for example, the 706 report due next february. there is the broadband data improvement act which at some -- which asks for various things. biggio is doing some benchmarking that we need to respond to.

-- the gao is doing some benchmarking that we need to respond to. we need to do this in an integrated manner. we're looking at very similar debtor the analytic work is similar. the approach and recommendations should be consistent@@@@@@@ @ @ come out with the 706 and get those comments into the record. we will continue the process. this really leads us to

thinking about this as an initiative. on broadband beckons our ongoing policy deliberations. we will deliver a plan by the date of february 17. the broadband work will be far from over for this commission. it is important that the information stays here as the engine city continues as the expert agency on these issues. just like the dtv thing, as scott so wonderfully coordinate the effort starting off under your auspices, commissioner cox, he will involve all the bureaus. i want to focus on the process for the national broadband plan. i will start by reviewing very quickly the congressional mandate. the core objective stated in the legislation was to ensure that

all people of united states have access to broadband capability. there's a lot more details to that. i would point out that not only is it simply access but we are supposed to look at affordability. we have to develop a strategy for utilization. in. d, i will not -- inparagraphd, it represents a view that while broadband is not the sole solution for any of the critical issues facing our country, it is part of the solution. this is for all the challenges that our country faces domestically. that is what we intend to do. our basic approach will be to ask four questions. first, we will look at the current situation.

what is the state of deployment, affordability, utilization? second, what will be the near term solution without a change in government policy? we will not on top of the current situation those things we know will occur. -- we will map on top of the current situation those things we know will occur. it would be a mistake not with knowledge what the cable industry doing or what the wireless industry is doing. we will take the present, map on the future and look at areas where there are demonstrable examples. those things that if we do not change policy, there would be a harm which congress has given as a guidepost to.

we already know what some of those with big. e. it is important to know what the opportunities are or what the technologies are. we know there will be on served communities. --un served communities. we need to know the numbers. we will be able to provide detailed knowledge about where the public harm might be or where the public interest benefits. that goes to the final phase of the approach which is, what are the ways of lessening or increasing the public benefit. we do not know the answer to any of those questions today. i think we have kind of a mandate for a process that has been discussed by all three of

you. we have designed this process. we want to be transparent, tha everyone will get to see the debate as it unfolds. it will be inclusive in the sense of enabling everyone to offer their views and it will be participatory. we want to enable everyone to offer views. second, we want to be dated driven. that means we do not start with the conclusion. we start by looking at data. we do not just accept the data that is given to us. we accept analytic work. thirdly, we produce a plan. the key to bess -- the key to this is that there be significant public input. we will do five things, several which have never been done. first, we will have staff workshops. they are designed to provide the

same kind of input. over 20 workshops we will have in august. the idea of these workshops, traditionally we have multiple meetings with multiple parties, often redundant the talk about the various issues. they are behind closed doors. there with commission staff. they are with commission staff. we'll take part of that process and put it in this room, opened to the public, on the web, open to a variety of questions from a variety of different sources. in this initial phase, it is designed to start the beginning of the planning process. second, we will have a website that will enable people to follow process more carefully and offered their own thoughts and views about where we should be going. the beta launched -- was

launched today. it was launched about 67 minutes ago. it is in beta and comments are welcome. third, we will have an additional form. --forum. we will have significant numbers of hearings, including outside of washington, d.c., focusing on the gap analysis that we will do in the fall, as well as proposed solutions. there will be meetings with commission staff. we will try to coordinate them for the general counsel's office. we want to be more efficient about use of staff time and unable the process to move more quickly. for people interested in participating in that way, it will not commence until the week of january 20, at the earliest. that is because we want to make sure that we have the

appropriate step and we have done our homework so that we can ask for a three questions. we focus on the staff workshops. there are two kinds of these. we want to get the issues up quickly and the date. s. we appreciate that august is often a vacation month. we deeply apologize but we have no choice. we are setting certain milestones for herself. by july 16, on the website, we will be coordinating the workshops. we will be taking recommendations for what should be covered in those workshops and we will cover our initial

view by july 23. we will post a formal participant list we hope that will be for all of the workshops by the 5th. let me talk about the web site, broadband.gov. we will request feedback. we will enable fobbs to follow and participate in the process. we hope to have future capabilities, including mapping capabilities so people can see a variety of things and do their own analysis. will the consumer information that will be helpful to determine what is most important about the planning process and

other information about broadband resources. i have to stop here and thank the extraordinary work of andrew martin, the cio. this is the first policy proceeding to have a dedicated web site like this. they put together very quickly -- they put it together very quickly. many people in cyberspace will have many suggestions and we welcome them. they did a great job in getting it up and we are happy with it. it is operation now. -- it is operational now. by september, we hope to report you on what the actual state of play is. by november, i hope to be able to report on what our core analysis of the key gaps are. by december, we want to give you

a policy framework. we will talk to you. i do not think we will be in a position to make recommendations. we will be too early in the face. we will be able to talk about the different approaches. we will get your feedback as to where you would like us to take these. in january, we hope to report of the national agenda. there is health care, energy, health care -- educations of it we identified by the congress where they want us to give them advice. we hope to be able to give you some thoughts on that. in february, we will rise -- released the 76 report and report you on our plan. -- we will release the 706 report and report to you on our plan for .

that concludes my presentation. i am happy to answer any questions you might have. >> thank you. commisioner copps? any comments? >> thank you very, very much this is a huge part of -- this is cute. -- this is huge. if we do our job right, it will be very important. i have been shouting from the rooftops for something like this for almost eight years now. i have been calling for a national strategy to bring broadband out to every american, no matter who they are or where they live. now, thanks to the american recovery investment act, we have

that commitment. it is the fcc that is directed to develop the plan. that is an opportunity. i am so pleased, mr. chairman, that you are leading the charge already with of the is a vision and deep personal commitment to make this plan reality. larry, you and i have known each other for a long time. it is my view and a view shared recorders throughout the country that you are exactly the right person for this job with the talent and the ability and experience and plain old- fashioned good judgment to coordinate this massive undertaking for the commission. i knew this when you joined us four weeks ago. it is clear from your presentation today that your work is well under way. i am thoroughly impressed by the quality and quantity of work you have done in less than one month. your work is so good that my

expectations keep going up. [laughter] we are expecting really big things. you have brought a level of excitement. when i talk about the chairman's vision and our come -- our commitment to broadbent, it is the greatest in the instructor challenge of all time. there are couple of things that are important that you alluded to in your presentation. i think it may have been one of our first manning's where we discussed -- first meetings that what we produce in february must be a plan and not a report. the sec has been charged to do something different, too -- the fcc has been charged to do a forward-looking, accessible, living, breathing plan that can get us to affordable broadband

in every corner of our country and restore our pronounced as the world's oil technology leader. i was pleased that we were of one mind in sharing this expansive@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ i'm so pleased we are of one mind.x?ç the quality initiative. and fold it into our big broadband policy. >> the focus is achievable and doable. it's a huge job done. making it come ot right is unlike any we have ever. i think there may for it. the other point i would like to

make is that for this to happen will require a level of public outrage, public input, and public dialogue that we have never pull -- never before achieved. i am encouraged that the development of this plan already promises to engage the public in many ways we have not done before. workshops and public meeting and town hall gatherings can be part of this. the internet can help. we have done some of us in the past. now we must do much more, all the time. the website is a great start. i think we agree that we need to be imaginative here. the goal is maximum civic engagement. i really like that term, civic engagement. we need to implement civic engagement across the wide gamut of issues where this commission has jurisdiction and broadband is exactly the place to start

new technologies and techniques and non-traditional out risk and put the focus of this commission on what it is supposed to be, a consumer-oriented and consumer- responsive agency. we need people talking to us. we'd just talking to people. we need people talking to people. as a nation, we can then buy into an aggressive broadband plan based on a shared understanding of how critical broadband is to our individual and national futures. that kind of citizen buy-in is critical to a good plan and the successful end to -- implementation of a plan to come up with. no one should think that we are putting all this emphasis on broadband for the sake of something called broadband. broadband is about something else. it is the grid in a blur. that is what infrastructure is always about.

-- it is the great enabler. there are no solutions to the colossal changes we face as a nation and seek to overcome, energy dependence, environmental degradation, job losses, inadequate health care, even our damaged civic dialogue, there is no solution to any of those that does not contain a critical broadband component within it. when you enable broadband, you unable united states of america. -- youenable the united states of america. there must we cannot afford to waste. we have a good process going. with a full commission press

between now and february we can and we will get this job done. mark me down as totally energized by this proceeding and by the work you have already done. i am very pleased with the process you have laid out. the chairman has great plans for this and i am looking to working with him. we will develop a national broadband plan that we can all be proud of. thank you. >> thank you. commissioner mcdowell? >> thank-you. this is a terrific opportunity. the world's economies ride on the rails of broadband. we have a terrific opportunity to improve the human condition all around the globe. i agree with commisioner copps that this is the biggest thing

to come to the fcc since the implementation of the 1996 act. thank you for your briefing last week. thank you chairman john caskey for your talk earlier this week. -- genachowski for your talk earlier this week. there are many challenges. it was three weeks ago. there are many challenges and restraints such as time and budget we have a statutory deadline, the magic date of february 17. folks need to understand that our deadline for the broadband mapping data to be in comes about one year after the plan is due. one of the most critical inputs to the decision making for the

plan comes one year after the plan is due. it is important to put that in context. we will try to do our own mapping and the tet-gathering. -- data-gathering. folks need to manage their expectations accordingly. hopefully, of the broadband plan will continue to be iterative after february 17. it is difficult to keep up with internet time but we need to make sure we did not slow down internet time in the process. these are challenges that i hope will adjust all expectations and i look forward to working with you and all my colleagues and all the stakeholders. i look forward to going throughout the country to learn

more about this. i have already started. i was in alaska in early march when it was 50 below zero outside. i learned the unique challenges with the eyes and extreme weather conditions and how they are satellite-dependent. that will be the first of many trips. thank you all very much. i look forward to working with you further. >> thank you, commissioner mcdowell. thank you, blair, for laying out an aggressive, energetic, creative game plan for tackling a project of such great importance for the country. it is also for the fcc. congress has entrusted the fcc with a matter of profound importance to the country. they have given us the job of developing a national broadband plan for america. as you said, the statute is

clear about what our goal must be. we must find ways to ensure that all people of united states have access to broadband. we must devise a detailed strategy to ensure that americans can afford broadband. they must be able to use broadband. we must evaluate the nation's deployment of broadband, including through federal grants. we must ensure that the broadbent infrastructure and services advance national purposes listed in the statute. this includes job creation and economic growth. the importance is amplified by today's employment numbers. education, health care, energy, public safety, civic participation, and many others, as you said, broadband is not a solution to any single problem, it is a solution to almost -- it

is a part of any solution that any problem our country faces. i cannot imagine a more important test for this agency at this moment in history. as a nation, we have faced challenges like this before. we faced challenges that were addressed with the expansion of roads across the country, electricity, universal telephone service, which this agency knows well, networks that connected and connect americans that became platforms for commerce and for improving the quality of american lives. we are at a crossroads, similar to the ones we have faced in the past than we, as a country, build a 21st century communications infrastructure that all americans have access to and that serves as a 21st

century platform for prosperity and opportunity for all americans? the president and congress have given this agency the responsibility for developing a strategic plan to connect americans to each other and to the rest of the world for making sure that we have a plan to put in place for the 21st century, the platform for innovation and opportunity. if we do our jobs right, imagine how we can help the country deliver. a small business in boston, the bronx, or blacksburg, va., connecting and selling their products to consumers across the country and the globe, parents and brownsville, texas, video conference -- video, and with their son or daughter serving in baghdad or couple --or kabul, a

student in a remote alaskan fishing village, and iowa farming town, an indian reservation in new mexico learning math and science over a broad band from a teacher and a major university. yesterday, i heard a farmer in pennsylvania who grew up thinking that computers and connectivity have no relevance to him. he now thinks that farmers cannot live without broadband. they need real-time access to weather, commodity pricing, agricultural information. i had a chance to visit yesterday with a senior computer clinic in downtown ..

>> his visit to a healthcare in d.c. where advanced communications technology is being used to help teenaged mothers, text messaging, face book. other opportunities. we spoke this week about his hands on visits to alaska where he sought way where brood band was making a real difference f. we do our job right at fcc, we can accelerate economic growth, create jobs and make sure we have a sustainable growth of

wedge in the united states. deliver better health care at lower costs, extend the benefits of broadband resolution to our hnmpolice and firefighters who depend on communications for their own safety and hours. these are mentz goals of importance. we are the beginning of the development of a plan to help the country deliver on this. i am looking forward to an energized united commission, blair, which you coordinating pursuing this effort. just because we can dream of an america built on broadband does not mean that we can make it happen. homes and businesses in many other countries have faster connections for lower prices. it will take real effort and bdedication and a long-term commitment to renew american leadership to competitiveness

for the 20 per century. it just yesterday, the commerce and agricultural department announced terms for new broadband networks. i am pleased that here of the fcc, we are developing a proper -- a long-term plan for national broadband. we heard today, blair, from you on how the fcc is going to undertake this challenging an incredibly important work. it is a road map for a process that is open, transparent, that is participatory, that involve3s h!s)$"@ @ @ @ @ @ @

develop our analysis. it means not just accepting data, but the into data it means into data to find solutions that proceed ideology and that make a positive difference in the lives of all americans and help build a new infrastructure that builds a platform. the work ahead of us is heavy. our time is short. the opportunities are tremendous and the consequences

for our country for failure are enormous. ringconnect 1200 if neither of my colleagues has any further comments, madam

secretary, please tell us what we do next. ç[laughter] >> thank you, mr. chairman, you may now adjourn the meeting. >> do i? >> it is yours. [laughter] [applause] >> this meeting is adjourned. [laughter] [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009]

>> alaska governor sarah palin has announced she will not run for reelection and will leave office next month. here is part of her statement. we are doing so well, my administration. their accomplishments speak for themselves. we work tire less li for alaska. we respectfully and responsiblyly use our resources. we protect the environment and alaskans, the resource owners. here's some of the things we have done. we created a petroleum integrity office. we have appointed four

alaskans. we have a gas line product. the vote 58-1 also succeeding to protect alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow toener guys alaska and america. it is very different than what has happened before. this time is through a proprivate sector energy project. this is energy independence. and another bipartisan effort working as intended and industry publicly acknowledging its success. so alaskans will no longer ever be taken advantage of. it will previously, not going to happen, not with the monopoly oil basin. we cleaned up, previously

accepted unethical actions. we ushered in bipartisan reform. we worked with the legislature to save billions for our future. i made no lobbiest friends with the budget vetos. living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow. we took government out of the dari business and put it back in the public's hands. we finally filled long, vacant posts. we built a subcabinet for climate change. we took heat for our biologically sound control. new prison. we made comeplex, conservative

choices to maintain personal vibblingtries. the lietenant gorper and i said no to our pay raises. this success, i am proud to take credit for hiring the right people. our goal was to achieve a gas line project and emyicks reform in four years. we did it in two. it's because of the people. the good people. the good public servants surrounding the governor's office. they are alaska's success. i really wish you would hear more from the media of your state's good progress and how we tackle outside interests. special interests daily. even those stimulus dollars

that would force the heavy hand of the government into our commounities. i have taken the gleans and arrows. to veto that is the right thing to do. i know being right is better than being popular. some of those dollars would harm alaska. they harm america. i resisted those dollars because of the obscence national debt we are forcing our children to pay. it's a moral. it doesn't even make economic sense. another accomplishment, our law department protected state rights came down against the liberal 9th circuit siting in our state's fafeyr protectors of our constitution. you don't hear much about the good stuff in the press

anymore. some say things changed for me august 29 last year. it was an honor to stand beside a true american hero. i say others changed. let me speak to that for a minute. political operatives. the ethics law i champion has become their choice. >> i have been the target of ethics complaints. we have won them all. it hasn't been cheap. the state has wasted thousands of hours, your time and shelled out some $2 million of your dollars to respond to option research. that's money not going to fund teachers or troopers or state

for roads. the politics of personal destruction, todd and i are looking at more than half a mill your honor in legal bills to set the record straight. the people casting the accusations, it doesn't cost them a dime. my staff and i spend most of our day dealing with this stuff instead of progressing our state now. i know i promised no more politics in unusual. this isn't what anyone had in mind for alaska. life is about choices. one chooses how to react to circumstance. you can choose to engage in thing that's tear down or build up. i choose to work hard for a

path of fruitfulness. i plan to build up the state and great compointer. life is too short to comprimise time and resources. that's a worls easy path. the quiters way out. our problem in the country today is aprilagey. we are fishmen, we know only dead fish go with the flow. utilizing precious time to build up. there's a need to build up and fight for our state and country. i'll work very hard for others who still believe in free enter prize, smaller government and strong national security for

our country and support for our troops. for those who will protect freedom, ee wallity and life. i'll work hard for those who are proud to be an american. i don't care what party they are in, no party at all. inside or outside ofal caw, but i won't do it from the govern's desk. i never believed anyone needs a title to make a difference, to do this. i choose for my state, my family, more freedom to progress all the way around. i will not seek reelection of governor. as i thought about this announcement and what that means.

so many politicians start to travel and accept that lame duck status and hit the road and draw a paycheck. i'm not going to put alaskans through that. i promised efficiencies and effectiveness. that's not how i'm wired. i promised that four years ago and i meant it. i'm determined to take the right path for alaska. with this announcement that i'm not seeking reelection, i determine it best to transfer the authority of governor to the lietenant governor. >> governor sarah palin took office in september 2006. press reports that the transfer

will take effect july 26. >> in a few moments, your calls and comments live on washington journal. after that, a series of discussion was presidential advisors continues. >> this week in america of the court, a look at supreme court nominee sownia sotomayor including classmate and childhood friend and the

district attorney who hired her. america and the courts today at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. . . . .