FCC Proposing To Sunset Dual-Carriage Viewability Rule

Cable operators will no longer be required to provide both an analog and digital versions of must-carry television station signals as of December 2012 if Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski gets his way, with low-cost converter boxes considered a sufficient vehicle for allowing analog customers to continue to view TV station signals.

That would be a win for cable operators, who had been looking to get out from under the mandate--though they had voluntarily agreed to dual carriage to help out in the DTV transition. It would be a defeat for broadcasters, who had pushed to retain the rule. An order, which has been circulated to the commissioners, according to a source close to one of those commissioners, says that cable operators will no longer have to provide an analog version of a TV station digital signals to their analog cable customers starting Dec. 11, 2012--providing a 6-month transition period beyond the June 12 sunset date of the three-year mandate. It also requires cable operators to provide plenty of notice to their analog customers.