Senate Bill 'Silent' On Must-Carry

SENATE BILL 'SILENT' ON MUST-CARRY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Some broadcasters were smarting Tuesday at the one-two punch of 1) the absence of multicast must-carry and 2) the presence of cable downconversion provisions in the Senate version of a telecommunications reform bill. A broadcast lobby source suggested that while he would not have been surprised had neither issue been raised in the bill, downconversion without even a mention of multicasting was like a "nose thumb"--his two- word phrase was more colorful--to the broadcasting industry. The Senate bill would allow larger cable systems to convert a TV station's must-carry DTV signal to analog for their analog cable customers for at least the next five years, and convert an HDTV signal to standard DTV for the same amount of time, though they would still have to deliver a DTV signal to their digital cable customers. Smaller cable systems would not have to deliver a DTV signal at all for five years. The presence of a provision allowing unlicensed wireless devices to operate in the broadcast band could not have sat well with broadcasters, either. Both the NAB and the Association For Maximum Service Television have argued that the devices represent an interference "genie" that cannot be put back in the bottle.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6330778?display=Breaking+News

See also --
* NETWORKS SALUTE FLAG
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Big Four networks Tuesday praised the Senate Commerce Committee for including language in its telecom bill draft that would establish the broadcast flag digital content protection. "We applaud the Committee for including a TV Broadcast Flag provision to assure that high value content remains available to over-the-air viewers," said ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC in a joint statement. The FCC already approved the flag technology once, but a court threw it out, saying the technology was post-transmission and beyond the FCC's authority. The Senate bill would expressly give it that authority. But the bill also included carve-outs for news, and public affairs, and distance-learning and other educational "fair uses" of digital content.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6330978?display=Breaking+News