Nick
05-31-05, 07:32 AM
"there is no regulation that makes carriage of free commercial broadcasting streams a discretionary matter"
From SkyReport - May 31, 2005
NAB Keeps Up Multicast Fight
The National Association of Broadcasters kept up its fight concerning multicast at the Federal Communications Commission, commenting on a petition from the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council that deals with the topic.
Earlier, the council suggested that the FCC should define primary video from a broadcaster as a programming stream, broken into 12-hour segments. In each 12-hour segment, a specified minimum number of hours of local content should be provided to qualify for cable carriage, the council said.
NAB and the Association for Maximum Service Television rejected the idea. The groups said there's no regulation that makes carriage of free commercial broadcasting streams a discretionary matter. Second, the groups called the proposal impractical.
The NAB said, "The commission should ... decline to place any condition on digital carriage rights that would undermine the flexibility of broadcasters to adapt to the needs of their local communities or raise the specter of content-based regulation."
The association also took aim at the FCC's earlier decision on multicasting, saying the commission made a mistake when it ruled that the 1992 Cable Act does not require cable operators to carry both analog and digital signals and the free digital multicasting streams of local commercial stations.
Despite the FCC's decision earlier this year to exempt cable companies from forced carriage of broadcast multicasting material, the NAB and broadcasters keep pushing the issue at the Portals. Broadcasters want cable companies to carry any additional channels they may deliver - in addition to their primary signal - that may be contained in digital broadcast spectrum.
SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com/#Story1) - used with permission
Comment: If you're wondering what this story about the NAB vs. cable has to to do with DBS, just wait. If the NAB ultimately convinces its lapdog, the FCC, to require cablecos to pipe every broadcaster's sub-channel, the door is wide-open for bandwidth-strapped DBS satellite companies to be brought under a new, more onerous must carry rule.
When the FCC inevitably bows to the NAB's command, the kind of programming garbage that local broadcasters will shovel onto its sub-channels will make public interest channels and info-mercials look like Hollywood's best. Under multi-cast must-carry, broadcasters will be our pimps, and we will be its whores. While this may please some DBS subs, when the bill for the additional bandwidth comes in, you had better be sitting down before you look at it.
From SkyReport - May 31, 2005
NAB Keeps Up Multicast Fight
The National Association of Broadcasters kept up its fight concerning multicast at the Federal Communications Commission, commenting on a petition from the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council that deals with the topic.
Earlier, the council suggested that the FCC should define primary video from a broadcaster as a programming stream, broken into 12-hour segments. In each 12-hour segment, a specified minimum number of hours of local content should be provided to qualify for cable carriage, the council said.
NAB and the Association for Maximum Service Television rejected the idea. The groups said there's no regulation that makes carriage of free commercial broadcasting streams a discretionary matter. Second, the groups called the proposal impractical.
The NAB said, "The commission should ... decline to place any condition on digital carriage rights that would undermine the flexibility of broadcasters to adapt to the needs of their local communities or raise the specter of content-based regulation."
The association also took aim at the FCC's earlier decision on multicasting, saying the commission made a mistake when it ruled that the 1992 Cable Act does not require cable operators to carry both analog and digital signals and the free digital multicasting streams of local commercial stations.
Despite the FCC's decision earlier this year to exempt cable companies from forced carriage of broadcast multicasting material, the NAB and broadcasters keep pushing the issue at the Portals. Broadcasters want cable companies to carry any additional channels they may deliver - in addition to their primary signal - that may be contained in digital broadcast spectrum.
SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com/#Story1) - used with permission
Comment: If you're wondering what this story about the NAB vs. cable has to to do with DBS, just wait. If the NAB ultimately convinces its lapdog, the FCC, to require cablecos to pipe every broadcaster's sub-channel, the door is wide-open for bandwidth-strapped DBS satellite companies to be brought under a new, more onerous must carry rule.
When the FCC inevitably bows to the NAB's command, the kind of programming garbage that local broadcasters will shovel onto its sub-channels will make public interest channels and info-mercials look like Hollywood's best. Under multi-cast must-carry, broadcasters will be our pimps, and we will be its whores. While this may please some DBS subs, when the bill for the additional bandwidth comes in, you had better be sitting down before you look at it.