Martin Floats DTV Carriage Plan

MARTIN FLOATS DTV CARRIAGE PLAN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
In advance of next week’s broadcaster convention in Las Vegas, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is circulating a plan that would allow TV stations to demand both digital and analog carriage from cable operators starting in early 2009. In the same proposal, Martin would allow cable operators to drop the analog format if all subscribers had the necessary reception equipment to view local DTV signals. Few cable operators, however, are expected to be all-digital in time to take advantage of the dual carriage exemption. Without Martin’s proposal, a DTV station that elected must carry after Feb. 17, 2009 would be seen in cable homes with digital set-top boxes and cable-ready DTV sets, but not in cable homes that continued to rely on analog equipment. If the analog cutoff came today, DTV stations without analog carriage rights would lose access to 45% of cable homes.
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