Public television stations control almost 80 megahertz - 21 percent - of the broadcast spectrum. Recent analysis of this spectrum has shown that public television's analog bandwidth is extremely valuable, and that putting this bandwidth into the private market could unlock its true economic potential.

APTS has formulated a plan to work with the federal government and private industry to accomplish this task, by facilitating a voluntary early return of this spectrum. With the receipt of billions of dollars from the auction of public television's spectrum alone, the government would also see increased tax revenue as a result of the increased economic activity that would flow from new entrepreneurial applications when this spectrum is made available for private uses.

Under current law, broadcasters are required to return their analog spectrum on or before December 31, 2006, or when their digital signal is available to at least 85 percent of households in a given market. Because public television stations are mandated to provide universal service, the conditions under which they would voluntarily return their analog spectrum may require that a much higher percentage of consumers have access to DTV.

More than 70 percent of public television stations are broadcasting a digital signal - but over-the-air transmission alone is not enough. In addition to working to secure cable carriage, APTS is also looking at ways to meet the needs of over-the-air viewers through inexpensive set-top boxes and free, over-the-air digital programming.

Of the respondents in a recent APTS survey (February, 2004), 81 percent indicated that they would be able to return their analog spectrum by the end of 2007 if they were guaranteed cable carriage, the availability of low cost set-top-boxes, and the establishment of a public television trust fund, built with some of the proceeds collected from the spectrum auction.