FCC’s NASCAR Car Crashes Again

Amy Schatz reports on the FCC. It’s now T-minus 100 days and counting until the U.S. switches to digital-only television broadcasts, but government efforts to educate the public about the change have been hitting a few snags. Commerce Department secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and others were forced to evacuate the Newseum Monday morning during a news conference to promote the digital TV shift when a fire alarm went off. And over the weekend, the FCC’s Digital TV Transition Ford crashed again, this time during a NASCAR race in Phoenix . It’s the second time in as many races that the car has been towed off the racetrack. The car also crashed in October at the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. The FCC spent $355,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland’s car for three races as part of a broader effort to promote the DTV transition. The decision prompted Citizens Against Government Waste to award Martin with ... (link)