FCC puts off Vote on TV Multicasting on Cable

FCC PUTS OFF VOTE ON TV MULTICASTING ON CABLE
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has withdrawn plans for the agency to vote this week on a proposal requiring U.S. cable operators to carry extra digital channels that television broadcasters plan to air, an agency official said on Sunday. Chairman Martin had proposed cable operators be required to carry all the digital TV channels aired by TV broadcasters and he had scheduled a vote for Wednesday at the FCC's monthly open meeting. It appeared he was unable to win at this time the vote of the third Republican commissioner, Robert McDowell, on the five-member FCC. McDowell was recently sworn in, giving Martin the first working Republican majority in over a year. The two Democrats on the FCC, Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, have previously demanded the agency first consider the public interest obligations of broadcasters with these new channels.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID=2006-06-18T224908Z_01_N18276551_RTRIDST_0_INDUSTRY-MEDIA-FCC-MULTICASTI...

* FCC Drops Planned Vote On Multicasts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800825.html

* Martin Bails on Must-Carry Vote
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6344841.html?display=Breaking+News