Cable Operators Ask for 'Quiet' on Retrans Disputes after DTV Transition

A group of cable operators has asked the FCC to step in and mandate that no TV stations be pulled from cable systems during the months around the February 2009 DTV transition date, even if cable operators and stations can't come to terms on carriage agreements. Mediacom Communications, along with Charter Communications, Insight, GCI, Suddenlink and Cequel Communications, has filed a petition asking the FCC “to promptly adopt a retransmission consent ‘quiet period’ to ensure that private commercial disputes in the months surrounding the February 17, 2009 digital transition do not unnecessarily trigger consumer confusion or service disruptions at a time when the American public is most dependent on the cable industry’s delivery of broadcast signals." That’s according to a copy of testimony slated to be delivered Wednesday by Edward Pardini, senior VP of Mediacom Communications, at a House Small Business Committee hearing on the DTV transition.
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