Representatives of state cable public affairs channels met with F...

Kenneth Ferree. In a briefing with reporters at NCTA hq before going to the FCC, the representatives said they believed the political winds had shifted away from must-carry at the Commission, but they still were concerned about the possibility the agency might pass some sort of multicasting mandate. Such a regulation could devastate their channels, they said, because they easily could be pushed off the dial since they arguably already were a financial drain on the cable companies that funded and carried the channels without the ability to place ads. The contingent was composed of C-SPAN Corp. Vp Bruce Collins, Pa. Cable Network Pres. Brian Lockman, Cal. Channel Pres. John Hancock and Mich. Govt. TV (MGTV) Pres. Bill Trevarthen. “The reason we're meeting with the Commission today is that we have grave concerns about the well-being of our networks should multiple must-carry become the law of the land,” Lockman said. The 3 state nonprofit channels in Pa. let viewers see their state govt. in action, showing House and Senate debates and votes, speeches by local candidates and public officials, such as the governor, as well as court cases. There are 21 such networks nationwide, some of them part-time, while others are on 24 hours a day. Even with compression technology, the representatives argued that channels still were finite and that there always was greater demand than there was capacity. They said they were among the most vulnerable channels, despite their stated mission of offering public service programming. Cal.’s Hancock said he already had lost access to more than 300,000 homes in the first go-around on must-carry to shopping channels “disguised as local signals” in Pasadena and Orange Co. Hancock said he had just completed one-on-one half-hour interviews with 60 of 135 gubernatorial candidates, having extended invitations to all, yet not everyone could see that information because the channel had been pushed off the dial in some areas. With Powell and the other commissioners stressing their interest in localism, the cable group said it thinks now would be an opportune time to tell their story. The channels’ revenue comes from cable subscriber fees and their boards are made up of cable operators. They generally are built on the same model as C-SPAN.