[opendtv] FCC OKs digital TV rules pushed by cable operators
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:15:55 -0400
George Leopold's take on this makes a lot of sense. In particular, the
FCC is *not* pushing for a quick switchover of cable to digital, quite
the opposite. The 2012 date is a "no earlier than" date, not a "no later
than." The FCC has no reason to want the analog cable spectrum.
So again, any costs the cable companies incur to make the switch are
really their decision. If they support plug and play and CableCard, or
just continue to offer some sort of analog tier, the FCC's ruling would
cost them little. And since the ruling only applies to the broadcast
channels in the local market, in principle cable companies only need to
support analog for maybe up to a dozen channels, and sometimes half
that. This cannot possibly be described as a huge burden.
I have heard and read that many cable subscribers are resisting the
digital switchover for one simple reason: they do not want to depend on
a cable STB. Seems to me that cable systems have one clue there as to
what it might take to expedite the switch.
Since I've been wondering for many years why cable companies wanted to
shoulder the entire burden of converting signals for their subscribers,
and why it took Michael Powell to suggest the "cable agreement" that
seemed so obvious, I can only see this upcoming FCC ruling as being very
accommodating to the cable companies. Just as Mr. Leopold's article
title suggests.
Bert
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http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=EUZ
PIQ3W2GLDCQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=201806111
September 12, 2007
FCC OKs digital TV rules pushed by cable operators
By George Leopold
WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission has adopted digital
TV transition rules that will require cable operators to either carry
digital broadcast signals in analog format or downconvert digital
signals for subscribers.
The latter option would require that cable operators provide subscribers
with converter boxes to view digital broadcasts.
The dual "must-carry" ruling requiring cable operators to provide both
analog and digital broadcast signals represents a compromise between
broadcasters and cable operators who had sparred over "must-carry" rules
in the run-up to the U.S. digital TV transition. U.S. analog TV
broadcasts are scheduled to end on February 2009.
A key provision of the ruling approved by the FCC on Tuesday (Sept. 11)
would extend the "viewability requirements" to February 2012. But
regulators agreed to review the requirement during its last year to
determine it if can be lifted "in light of the state of technology and
the marketplace."
"The 1992 Cable Act is very clear," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a
statement issued with the ruling. "Cable operators must ensure that all
local broadcast stations carried pursuant to this act are 'viewable' by
all cable subscribers. Thus, they may not simply cut off the signals of
these must-carry broadcast stations after the digital transition. The
order we adopt today prevents the cable operators from doing just that."
Cable operators said they were pleased with the "must-carry" ruling,
which they had fought in court for years. "We are pleased that the FCC
dropped an ill-considered mandate that would have turned back the clock
on decades of digital technology innovation," Kyle McSlarrow, president
of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said in a
statement.
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reserved
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