Small Cable Eyes Concerns on DTV Transition

[Steve Mehs]

Millions of consumers may be at risk of losing local broadcast signals unless the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed regulations for digital TV take into account the unique circumstances of smaller markets, according to the American Cable Association (ACA).

ACA, the association representing independent and small cable businesses, told the FCC this week that a successful DTV transition in small TV and cable markets may require a combination of inter-industry cooperation and careful oversight by the commission. Otherwise, the digital broadcast television could mean a nation of urban "DTV-haves" and rural "DTV-have nots," the organization said.

Matt Polka, ACA president, said members of the association have identified four major obstacles in the DTV transition for smaller, independent cable systems: High cost, lack of bandwidth, lack of available DTV signals, and low consumer DTV adoption rates.

"We hope the FCC will be sensitive to the important and unique concerns of smaller cable markets," Polka said. "ACA will work in this comment process to provide the FCC with specific solutions to help protect consumers in smaller markets and the independent cable businesses that serve them."

From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com) (Used with Permission)

[scooper]

THere's a REALLY easy solution for these smaller cable companies - buy themselves an ATSC tuner for each of the the local DTV channels, then modulate it onto their cable plant instead of the NTSC version. They should be able to get by with just the main channel. - It can be settled with the stations on their re-trans agreements.