Hillary Clinton Backs NPRM On Low-Power Must Carry

Sen Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin supporting a proposal to grant some low-power stations must-carry status on cable. She urged all the Commissioners to give "due consideration" to the item, which actually wound up being pulled from the agenda after the other four Commissioners wanted carriage to be part of an inquiry rather than a proposed rule. But she went beyond that to express her support for a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on carriage. Sen Clinton cited portions of Martin's proposed NPRM that would have 1) "gather[ed] views of the public" on migrating Class A low power stations to full power status, "thereby affording such stations to [sic] must-carry rights on cable television systems and that would have 2) permitted additional low-powers to become Class A's.