FCC Sends DTV Letters to Cable
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 5/22/2003 12:49:00 PM
Cable operators, broadcasters and other industry players have been sent letters from the Federal Communications Commission regarding their efforts to promote the digital-TV transition.
The letters -- sent Wednesday and released to the media one day later -- represent FCC chairman Michael Powell's first major review of the voluntary digital-TV plan he advanced one year ago, which was embraced by various industry segments, including cable operators.
The latest FCC letters were sent to nine cable companies -- Comcast Corp, Time
Warner Cable, Charter Communications Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Adelphia Communications Corp., Cablevision Systems Corp., Mediacom Communications Corp., Insight Communications Co. Inc. and Cable One Inc. -- the FCC said.
The letters seek specific information on the pricing and carriage of HDTV programming, as well as on orders for set-tops with digital content-protection connectors.
One year ago, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association announced that the top 10 cable operators agreed to "offer" to carry "up to five" HDTV channels supplied by local TV stations (commercial or public) and by cable networks.
The operators -- which promised to meet their commitment by Jan. 1, 2003 -- said they would not pay for broadcast programming nor seek compensation for carriage.
The cable operators said their promise extended to 750-megahertz systems with more than 25,000 subscribers in the top 100 markets.
According to the NCTA, as of February, at least one cable operator was carrying HDTV programming in 73 of the top 100 markets. Broadcaster-supplied HDTV signals were carried by operators in one-half of served markets.
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