PEG Protection Bill Introduced

A bipartisan pair of legislators has introduced a bill that would put content, reception and signal-quality requirements on carriage of public access and government channels and require cable operators to pay for those channels regardless of state laws "affecting cable system franchising requirements relating to support for public, educational, or governmental use of a cable system."

Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH) jointly introduced the Community Access Prevention (CAP) Act, which would amend the Communications Act to require that cable operators carry the channels without alteration or degradation, and make them viewable without additional equipment charges to every sub. The bill would also require the FCC to conduct a study on the impact of state video franchise laws on PEG channels, the impact of the conversion from analog to digital, and recommend changes if necessary, with the exception that cable cannot be allowed to charge for the quality, accessibility, functionality, or placement of the channels.