The FCC has been asked to exclude small cable systems from a requ...
The FCC has been asked to exclude small cable systems from a requirement that operators of all sizes carry analog and digital signals of must-carry broadcasters for three years after the DTV transition. In a Sunday filing, the American…
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Cable Association said systems of fewer than 5,000 subscribers or capacity under 552 MHz should be excluded from the rule, which commissioners adopted in September. Compliance will cost small systems at least $28,600 for every channel electing to get guaranteed cable carriage rather than payments from cable operators, said ACA. “A significant number of these low-capacity systems are close to channel-locked and short on capacity for new broadband and other services,” the group said. “Requiring these systems to devote bandwidth to duplicative signals… impedes these systems’ ability to compete with well-financed, bandwidth- rich competitors like DirecTV, EchoStar, Verizon and AT&T.” NCTA recently made a similar request to the FCC (CD Feb 20 p20).