[opendtv] Outgoing NCTA Chief Blasts NAB on Digital Carriage
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 08:11:46 -0500
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA501983.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
Outgoing NCTA Chief Blasts NAB on Digital Carriage
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/7/2005 5:25:00 PM
The DTV must-carry battle continues to head up as the days grow short.
National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Robert
Sachs Monday charged the National Association of Broadcasters with
launching a misinformation campaign of "gross misstatements" meant to
scare the public about the FCC Feb. 19 vote on cable and satellite
carriage of TV stations' digital signal.
Rather than a rush to judgment, said NCTA President Robert Sachs
Monday in a letter to members of Congress, the vote has, in fact,
been pending for four years, and is a reconsideration of the FCC's
2001 decision denying full digital multicast must-carry. The Feb. 10
vote is widely expected to uphold that denial.
NCTA says that cable systems are already carrying digital signals
from more than 500 stations, and points out that it has just made a
deal to carry the digital signals of public broadcast stations.
"In short," says NCTA, "compelling digital broadcast content is being
carried voluntarily today on cable, and more such programming is
being offered every day."
What NAB wants, says Sachs, is "preferential treatment": mandatory
carriage of half a digital dozen channels for every TV station,
regardless of whether they are infomercials or home shopping channels
or other of what NCTA calls "low value" content.
At the same time, says Sachs, "every other non-broadcast cable and
satellite program network must vigorously compete for carriage of new
and existing programming on the basis of the quality of that
programming and its perceived value to consumers."
NAB responded in a statement: "The only misinformation campaign being
waged is coming from NCTA. Cable gatekeepers are fighting against
multicasting for one reason and one reason only: because a
"pro-multicasting" ruling from the FCC would result in an explosion
of free programming choices for consumers."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
- » [opendtv] Outgoing NCTA Chief Blasts NAB on Digital Carriage
