[opendtv] Re: NAB, MSTV applaud FCC must-carry proposal for DTV transition

At 5:37 PM -0400 7/24/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:

 > My position all along has been that the broadcasters should

 only insist on must-carry of the digital signal. Let the cable
 companies decide whether to offer an analog tier or D/A STBs
 for their analog subscribers.


Apparently, that is also Chairman Martin's position, as stated to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce today:
Sorry Bert, but YOUR position (above) and Martin's are NOT the same. You are saying that the cable company should be able to decide how to accommodate customers (or NOT). Martin is saying that the cable company MUST accommodate customers either by dual carriage in Analog and Digital, or by supplying digital converters if they drop the analog version.
Perhaps you do agree with Martin, but you wrote that they should ONLY be required to carry the digital signal. 


So back to the NCTA comment that I quoted earlier:

...

It looks like the cable companies will probably want to retain some
analog tier for some time, until their customers buy new sets or new
STBs.

I'm puzzled about what the NCTA thinks its options are, I mean even in a
"perfect world" of their own making. If they were not made to transmit
the broadcasters' digital signal, do they really expect their paying
customers, ever more equipped with DTVs, to be satisfied with the analog
signal? That's silly. So, what do they think is the best approach?


Read what you reported Bert.
The NCTA is saying that the only viable option for most cable operators will be to carry both an analog and the digital broadcast, effectively tying up nearly 12 MHz of capacity on their systems. The other option is to carry just the digital signals and let consumers decide if they want to bother with a STB to watch the broadcast signals. 

As Frank said...

This could be the over-reach that could get must carry overturned.

Regards
Craig


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