Broadcasters are unfairly blaming cable and consumer electronics ...
Broadcasters are unfairly blaming cable and consumer electronics industries for slow transition to DTV, CEA and NCTA said in separate comments on broadcasters’ bid for reconsideration of DTV biennial review order (MM 00-39). CEA again said FCC shouldn’t set…
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receiver standards for DTV sets and “critical element” in transition was “an ample supply of high-quality” DTV programming. Group said FCC lacked statutory authority to impose receiver standards and there was “no congressional mandate, and indeed no need” for standards. NCTA criticized what it charged were broadcasters’ “self-serving and disingenuous statements about the cable industry’s role in the digital transition,” particularly claims that broadcasters were only ones investing in DTV. “One would hardly guess that the broadcasters asked the government for a second 6 MHz channel of valuable spectrum,” NCTA said. Meanwhile, it said, cable, which gets no new free spectrum, has invested $42 billion since 1996 in digital cable capability and has signed voluntary agreements with consumer electronics makers to ensure DTV compatibility with cable.