FCC picks posh beachfront communities for digital TV test

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, N.C. -- When the Federal Communications Commission chose Wilmington and a five-county slice of North Carolina near the Cape Fear coast as its test market for the nation's upcoming switch to digital television, it selected a region that is among the state's wealthiest.

The test, set for Sept. 8, is supposed to cull information that could prove useful for the nationwide switchover on Feb. 17, particularly in areas considered vulnerable to losing reception, such as the inner cities, along the Mexican border, and in rural and mountainous regions.

So it may seem incongruous that the test zone includes a private island, gated communities and oceanfront resorts dotted with lavish vacation homes and retirement mansions. Affluent neighborhoods are widely viewed as having far less reliance on over-the-air analog reception than low-income ones, which often face additional hurdles, such as language barriers and limited access to the Internet, to learn about the changeover.

Here, where seaside "cottages" rivaling the size and grandeur of year-round residences in Washington's toniest suburbs can be bought for a cool $5 million, tight public parking restrictions and extensive police surveillance appear designed to keep out the riff-raff. In nearby Landfall, a Country Club membership buys 45 holes of golf and access to 14 tennis courts minutes from your door, but visitors without connections are barred from entering this gated community surrounded by a high concrete wall and thick foliage.

The DTV shift will also come early to Bald Head Island, where top-shelf homes sell for nearly $2 million. The test market's crown jewel is Figure Eight Island, dubbed the Martha's Vineyard of North Carolina. Former Sen. John Edwards, University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles -- who was President Clinton's White House chief of staff -- and Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack have summer residences on this private island, connected to the mainland by a bridge but off-limits to outsiders. Featured homes on Figure Eight Realty's Web site range from $1.2 million to nearly $4.5 million.

There is diversity in the region, including vast stretches of farmland and low-income neighborhoods made up mostly of blacks and Hispanics, whose reliance on over-the-air signals is presumed to be high. "We do serve a dynamic cross-section of society in these five counties," underscored Bill Saffo, mayor of Wilmington, a city of roughly 100,000 and the area's hub. Interviewed this week in his office, he noted that some of the participating counties are very rural, including Bladen, which he called "one of the largest hog producers in the country, maybe in the world."

But the affluence of the region is raising questions about whether this portion of North Carolina was the best choice. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who originated the idea of doing a test run of the DTV switchover, said Wednesday that he would have preferred several tests in a variety of places, but the plan never materialized.

"Nobody else stepped forward to do this," he said, adding: "It's the only community we got."

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who was in Wilmington with Copps Thursday, was unavailable for comment. Wilmington is a place where trendy tourists rub elbows with tattooed beach bums. Boutiques, fine dining and sightseeing riverboats line the River Walk, and sushi is as easy to find downtown as an oyster bar. The city boasts a café culture, permanent movie studio, Shakespeare festival and sizable historic district, though some neighborhoods are largely blue collar and lower-income.

"A lot of people use Wilmington during political season -- a lot of polling is done here -- because they look at it as being a pretty good microcosm" of the state and the nation, Saffo said.