Multicast Must-Carry Vote 6/15

MARTIN: MULTICAST MUST-CARRY VOTE 6/15
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
The agenda for the June 15 FCC open meeting will be announced on June 8 -- what will be on it? Apparently a new proceeding that would propose to change agency policy established in 2001 concerning how many broadcast TV station signals end up on local cable TV systems. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin seeks to reverse a FCC decision that just one digital television channel for each broadcaster be required to be carried on cable. With digital TV technology broadcasters will be able to air multiple, simultaneous signals (perhaps as many as six); in the land of the wonks this is know as multicasting. Under Chairman Martin’s proposal, if a digital-TV station demands cable carriage of multiple programming streams, the cable operator would be required to carry them. Led by the NAB, TV stations have urged the FCC to expand the must-carry requirement to include all digital-TV signals that consumers can view over-the-air free-of-charge. The FCC rejected the idea in February 2005 in a 4-1 vote, affirming the same decision in 2001. The agency found that multicasting mandates would impose a First Amendment burden on cable without advancing important governmental interests, such as the preservation of free, over-the-air local TV or advancement of the digital-TV transition. “I believe that reading the statute now as expansively as broadcasters urge would likely wither before a First Amendment challenge,” said then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell Then-Commissioner Martin, the lone dissenter, disagreed, saying that the burden of digital must-carry would be “significantly less” than analog must-carry due to compression technology. Cable, he added, would not have to set aside more than one-third of its channel capacity for must-carry obligations. “The burden on cable capacity … is capped by statute, a cap that has been upheld by the Supreme Court,” Commissioner Martin said. If the FCC adopts rules under Martin, cable operators and programmers are highly likely to wage a court battle by arguing that multicast must-carry would violate First Amendment freedoms and take private property without just compensation under the Fifth Amendment. "The FCC already has twice rejected a multicasting mandate, and no new evidence has been presented that justifies a different result. In fact, working directly with local broadcasters, cable operators have added hundreds of digital-broadcast channels to their lineups nationwide and have effectively implemented a privately negotiated agreement with public television to ensure broad carriage of digital public TV stations across the country,” National Cable & Telecommunications Association spokesman Brian Dietz said.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6339174.html?display=Breaking+News

* Full FCC Could Boost Multicast Fortunes
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6339122?display=Breaking+News