Broadcasters to FCC: Don't Let Cable Systems Drop Local Must-Carry Signals

Broadcast industry executives are turning up the heat in their campaign to retain a Federal Communications Commission rule that requires cable television operators to ensure that all of their customers have access to local must-carry signals. Unless it takes action, the FCC's so-called three-year-old “viewability rule” is set to automatically expire on June 12. The rule ensures that all 58 million cable TV subscribers have access to local must-carry signals -- not just the 46 million who subscribe to digital cable. Eliminating the viewability rule would severely undermine the viewership of independent, religious and foreign-language stations that rely on the regulation to reach all cable viewers, broadcasters say.