NCTA Warns Copyright Office on Distant Signals

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association put the Copyright Office on notice that it could have "a deleterious effect on the continuity of broadcast-signal carriage post-transition" if the office changes the way it determines what qualifies as a distant TV-station signal. Translation: If an in-market station a cable operator has carried free-of-charge is reclassified after the digital-TV transition as a distant signal for which cable operators have to pay for the privilege of carrying, those operators will be less inclined to carry them.