Ratings, Yes; Web, No
Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 1/29/2001
WASHINGTON -The Federal Communications Commission decided a host of issues that have swirled around the issue of cable carriage of digital-TV signals.
It said cable operators would not be forced to require subscribers to obtain set-top boxes to view DTV signals, but required digital signals to be carried on the basic tier.
The FCC plans to review whether to permit carriage of DTV signal carriage on a tier other than basic.
On carriage of program-related material, the FCC said cable operators would have to carry closed captioning, "V-chip" data, Nielsen ratings data, and channel mapping and tuning protocols, also called PSIP.
But operators would not be required to carry Internet and electronic-commerce data services unrelated to the primary video signal they must carry.
Carriage of digital electronic program guides (EPGs), the FCC said, is subject to a "fact-based program-related analysis."
That decision might restrict Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.'s ability to deliver its EPG in cable homes over DTV signals.
The FCC said cable operators may convert DTV signals from 8-VSB to 64- or 256-QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) and were not required to pass through 8-VSB signals.
The FCC noted that QAM is a more efficient use of bandwidth and could free up channels for use by DTV stations, were they granted mandatory carriage rights.
