Analog on Cable, HDTV on DBS

[John Corn]

It could be the strangest carriage fight in America: A new TV station in Florida is seeking analog carriage on local cable systems but high-definition-TV carriage on direct-broadcast satellite carrier EchoStar Communications Corp.

There's nothing Adelphia Communications Corp. and other cable systems in the area can do because the Federal Communications Commission has already ruled that digital-only stations like WHDT-DT in Stuart, Fla., can insist on analog cable carriage for at least the next few years.

Full Story (http://www.tvinsite.com/multichannelnews/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=105155&display=breakingNews)

[Mike123abc]

This will be a very interesting case. The FCC will probably rule that it is OK for Dish to carry lower resolution for a while, but DBS companies are really going to have a problem in a few years when all the stations switch to HDTV.

I would love to see the FCC rule STD for now but HDTV by a certain date (like 2007). That will tell DBS that they need to plan for HDTV must carry and get busy with capacity planning. Yes I realize that they can only get 3-4 HDTV channels on a transponder today vs 10 STD channels. Echostar could do it with an aggressive spot satellite on 61.5, 148 and maybe an additional western slot that is open. With work they might be able to get 6 channels per spot.