PEG Channels Look to Passing CAP Act, as 2009 Petitions Remain Stalled At FCC
Public, educational and governmental channels groups say they are looking toward legislation to keep PEG channels accessible and affordable to viewers, as they continue to keep an eye out for action on petitions pending at the FCC. The PEG community is trying to build momentum behind the Community Access Preservation Act, introduced by Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, and ensure that an October FCC rulemaking notice about basic service tier encryption won’t pose a barrier to PEG channels, some PEG advocates said.
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The petitions have been on hold for too long, said an eighth floor aide. “It’s extremely important.” However, it’s unclear whether “they're going to become unstuck,” he said. “It’s been so amazingly frustrating,” said Gerry Lederer, general counsel to the Alliance for Community Media. ACM filed the PEG petitions in 2009. The FCC could go a long way by addressing the petition, he said: “We need the commission to make a finding that when you take us out of the basic tier and convert us to a webstream, you are in fact discriminating against PEG channels versus the rest of the basic tier."
Since the petitions were filed, there has been an acceleration in the number of cable operators going all digital, said cable attorney Dan Brenner of Hogan Lovells. “The snapshot of the video marketplace in 2012 looks different than in 2009 in terms of digital penetration, video competition and video online services,” he said. “So I think PEG policy, like all video policies, has to address the way people are using television today."
The petitions are still pending, an FCC spokesman said. Some companies have been holding ex parte meetings on the cable encryption NPRM, he said. MVPDs and the MPAA support it, while some independent set-top box service companies are against it, he added.
Cox Communications said it has made efforts to digitize PEG channels in several markets. Digital transmission is “a much more efficient way to transmit the channels, and allows Cox to maximize the use of our bandwidth for the benefit of customers,” a spokeswoman said.
Some PEG advocates argued that pay-TV providers don’t handle PEG channels the same way they do commercial channels. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with digitization, said Mary Cardona, executive director of Wisconsin Community Media. It’s the wave of the future, “but we do want to make sure that everyone who subscribes to cable is able to view the PEG channels in the lowest tiers of service so they don’t have to buy extra equipment,” she said. All Wisconsin PEG channels can be seen with the basic tier of service, but they're affected by “channel slamming,” Cardona said: Charter Communications is moving analog PEG channels from “easy-to-find channels in lower analog numbers to channels in the 90s.” The channels “are much harder to find for our viewers and they're prone to interference,” she added. Charter did not comment.
Viewers are at a disadvantage when PEG channels are placed in “digital Siberia,” said Bunnie Riedel, executive director of American Community Television. “You cannot, as a basic subscriber, get to those channels without an additional piece of equipment,” she said. It especially affects the elderly who watch city council meetings and church services and “people who are on limited budgets.”
The CAP Act would prevent cable operators from charging for transmitting PEG channels and allow PEG fees to be used for any station-related purpose. The legislation is critical for stations that are facing cuts to state funding, the advocates said. Getting CAP passed is a “huge urgency,” especially for Ohio and Wisconsin, said Lederer. “Those states have laws in place that are making the continued use of community media difficult with the loss of funding.” Wisconsin is on a “rolling blackout” and has been losing funding since May, said Riedel. The bill “would solve all of our problems.” Two Wisconsin stations are on the verge of closure due to the loss of funding, Cardona said. The bill could restore fees and “raise the amount of money that cities could allocate for PEG fees."
ACM wants the FCC to ensure that the encryption rulemaking doesn’t create another barrier to PEG channels, Lederer said. While ACM understands that there are benefits to the cable industry, encryption shouldn’t cause the individual consumer to purchase or lease a converter box, or result in the loss of PEG channels, he added. Passing CAP would speak to the encryption issue, Riedel said. It would ensure that “whatever the encryption order looks like, we would have to be on the basic tier of service along with the other broadcast stations.”