NCTA Backs Three-Year Station Must Carry Plan
Idea is Alternative to FCC Chairman Martin’s Dual Must Carry Proposal
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 9/6/2007 3:12:00 PM
Washington -- The cable industry is offering to carry so-called must carry local TV stations in both analog and digital formats for three years following the legally mandated cutoff of analog TV in early 2009, a cable industry source familiar with the plan said Thursday.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association is backing the idea as an alternative to FCC chairman Kevin Martin’s proposal to impose perpetual dual must carry until cable systems have gone all-digital, an event not likely to occur for many years.
NCTA officials floated their proposal in a series of meetings with top FCC officials Wednesday, hoping to spur discussion on a compromise measure before next Tuesday’s scheduled vote on Martin’s plan.
“[Martin’s] proposal as it stands is a ticket to court,” a cable industry source said, referring to the industry’s longstanding belief that government-required carriage philanthropy for TV stations is unconstitutional.
NCTA indicated that the three-year pledge wouldn’t be universal among all cable systems. The cable trade group noted in a Sept. 5 FCC filing that “bandwidth-constrained operators” in large markets with numerous must carry stations and public access channels might need relief from a rigid dual carriage regime.
The National Association of Broadcasters is backing Martin in a major political battle with cable on an issue that has lingered at the agency for many years. Twice, the FCC has rejected additional local TV station carriage mandates on cable. In February 2005, Martin himself voted to reject dual must carry.
NAB executive vice president of media relations Dennis Wharton said the NCTA plan “sounds intriguing but NAB would like to read more about the details.”
In the current carriage dispute, Martin has also proposed that cable pass through “all bits” transmitted by local TV stations, a rule which would ban the use of signal compression and statistical multiplexing as capacity-saving tools. In the FCC meetings, NCTA repeated its firm opposition to the “all bits” mandate.
Martin’s dual carriage proposal is intended to ensure that millions of analog cable homes don’t suddenly lose access to local TV signals that will be transmitted only in digital by law after Feb. 17, 2009.
The NAB sent Martin a letter Thursday reiterating firm support for a dual carriage regime, claiming cable has a legal responsibility to ensure that must carry signals are “viewable” in cable homes.
In FCC filings, NCTA and Comcast have explained that cable systems would be complying with the “viewable” standard by carrying the signals and informing subscribers that leasing a digital set-top would make the signals appear on analog TV sets.
In its letter, NAB said the cable industry was not being straight with consumers in public service announcements that say analog TVs connected to cable won’t be affected by the DTV transition. NAB indicated that the PSAs should note that without dual must carry, analog TVs connected to cable will require a digital set-top to view all local TV signals.
“On a day in which the cable industry announced the launch of a voluntary $200 million campaign to educate all consumers about the broadcasters’ digital TV transition, it’s too bad that the broadcasters have chosen to focus on a regulatory ploy and unconstitutional mandate that already has twice been decided by the FCC,” NCTA vice president of communications Brian Dietz said.
For Cable, 9/11 Might Become Kevin/Eleven
09/10/2007Cable Can Sue Now Over Dual Must-Carry
02/01/2008Martin Forced To Dump His Dual Carriage Plan
09/11/2007NCTA Keeps 3-Year Vow
02/08/2008Martin Pushes Dual Carriage
08/26/2007
