Former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley and fellow Wiley Rein partner...

rule was set to expire Tuesday. Meanwhile, the NCTA both expanded the commitments it made to minimize the disruption caused by the rule’s expiration to its members’ analog subscribers and attacked claims made by NAB in the docket about its ability to do so. It said the eight largest cable operators will notify must-carry stations at least 90 days ahead of ending their analog distribution, except when the cable operator is moving to an all-digital system (http://xrl.us/bnbhwn). Separately, the cable association wrote the agency claiming that NAB in its arguments to the commission distorted facts about the availability of converter boxes (http://xrl.us/bnbhwp). The three-year viewability period marked an agreement from the cable industry to help with the broadcast DTV transition, the NCTA said. “Now that three-year transition period is expiring and the cable industry needs to focus on its own DTV transition,” it said. “NAB’s arguments should be rejected.” Lawyers for smaller cable operators continued to meet with commission officials to push for an extension of a rule that exempts smaller and low-capacity systems from carrying must-carry stations’ HD signals (http://xrl.us/bnbhw5). A group of must-carry broadcasters held a teleconference Friday with an aide to Clyburn to push for the rules to be extended, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bnbhxf).