"The Time Has Come To Build A 21st Century Economy" - Shelly Palmer Report

As I listened to Presidentelect Obama39s speech yesterday I was tickled that he chose this moment to promote my upcoming book Get Digital Reinventing yourself and your career for the 21st Century Economy 2009 Lake House Press Actually he wasn39t promoting my book he was articulating some of his thoughts about how digital infrastructure among other things is a central focus of his economic stimulus package and his vision of a 21st century economy That39s the good newsThe bad news is that he is seriously considering bowing to special interest and political pressure and delaying the February 17 2009 switchoff of analog television one of the fundamental building blocks of the technological future he envisions On some level a delay makes sense He is facing the biggest economic crisis we39ve ever seen and there is a very real threat of a protracted war in the Middle East This probably isn39t the time to take the risk of not being able to reach 8ish million antennaonly television households On the other hand there will never be a quotgoodquot time to force people to make a change At this point any date they pick will be arbitrary Exactly a year ago I was speaking with an FCC staffer I asked him quotWhy did the FCC choose a date in the middle of sweeps for the transitionquot He asked me and this is the honest truth quotWhat are sweepsquot I didn39t answer because I could not believe that anyone working at the FCC could ask that question I just made a little joke about it and asked quotNo seriously how did you guys pick 21709quot I swear what I am about to tell you is true He said quotIt was after the inauguration and before March Madness so we figured it was a good datequot As you know the broadcast industry was successful in getting Nielsen to move sweeps to March for this year amp8211 you can39t make this stuff upAs most of you know I have been counting down the days to the digital transition on MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer my daily video show The reason is simple The first day of all digital television is the first day that the old spectrum gets repurposed and that date whenever they decide to do it will be the first day of the superdigital age It will mark a historic turning point in toolmaking and toolusing It will also be the day that the United States can start to do something about the fact that we are ranked 15th worldwide in broadband penetration During the presidential campaign Barack Obama proved that he and his staff were digital wizards Not only did he use the Web to raise more money than anyone has ever raised but he used it to communicate his message across an extremely broad platform His execution was spot on and his organization demonstrated an understanding of the medium that has not yet been equaled in the world of politicsI don39t think we should let Obama39s reconsideration of the digital television transition date confuse the issue Obama believes in the power of digital technology And I think he understands that digital technology and digital skills are key components in rebuilding our economy To quote the Presidentelect quotTo build an economy that can lead this future we will begin to rebuild America amp8230 it means expanding broadband lines across America so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world And it means investing in the science research and technology that will lead to new medical breakthroughs new discoveries and entire new industriesquotDespite the fact that two million jobs were lost in 2008 Obama believes three million new jobs can be created in the next few years If we can find a way to buildout our digital infrastructure and retrain some of our TVgeneration citizens I think there will actually be more than thatThis year the sociotechno divide is at 35 years old People above that age are TVgeneration people below that age are for the most part videogamers and digital natives Obama believes quotwe are still home to the most brilliant minds the most creative entrepreneurs and the most advanced technology and innovation that history has ever knownquot He understands that with digital education for baby boomers and enterprise tech training for kids we will see thousands of new businesses and millions of new jobs emergeYes I39m concerned about the delay of the transition And what about the people who purchased the spectrum at auction If the government does decide to delay the transition how will Verizon ATampampT and the other auction bidders feel about the 30 Billion of spectrum that they will not be getting That39s for another column I am convinced that the Presidentelect understands how important the new digital economy is to the 21st century economy and I know he39s going to be a champion for innovation right out of the gateShelly Palmer is the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer a daily show featuring news you can use about technology media ampamp entertainment He is the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2008 York House Press and the upcoming Get Digital Reinventing Yourself and Your Career for the 21st Century Economy 2009 Lake House Press Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences NY the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy Awards For information about Get Digital Classes visit httpwwwshellypalmercomseminars

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