Few Changes to Viewability Draft Item Expected Before Approval
FCC and industry officials said they expect few changes to a draft that would allow the commission’s must-carry DTV viewability rules to partially sunset (CD May 25 p5) before the order’s adopted. Parties are continuing to meet with commission staff to push their arguments. Ex parte notices filed in docket 98-120 show a steady stream of visits to the commission from cable industry lawyers and executives. Much of the lobbying has focused on the two newest commissioners’ offices, filings show.
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Cable operators have expressed some concerns with the six-month phase-out of the rule contained in the item that circulated, but the provision doesn’t appear problematic enough for the industry to seek major changes to order, said FCC and industry officials. Though broadcasters have said in filings the commission should require cable operators who eliminate analog must-carry transmission and provide those stations guaranteed cable carriage in digital only to provide free equipment that would let affected households continue watching those stations, it’s not clear whether the commission has the authority or will to make such a requirement, they said. “We've made our case to the commission and we're hopeful that they are taking our concerns and the concerns of broadcasters across the country into consideration,” an NAB spokesman said.
One area that may get some work before the item is adopted is notice, an FCC official said. As it stands, the item lacks any explicit notice mandate and some at the commission have concerns that existing channel change notice procedures will be inadequate for this type of change, the official said. FCC rules require cable operators to tell consumers 30 days in advance of changing a TV station’s channel position on its lineup.
American Cable Association attorneys pushed back against the calls for cable operators to offer free equipment, an ex parte notices of meetings last week show (http://xrl.us/bm93uj, http://xrl.us/bm93vi). The ACA lawyers also urged FCC officials to keep an exemption for small cable systems that allows them to avoid carrying must-carry signals in HD. “Despite the success of the HD carriage exemption, there remain a number of smaller cable systems that continue to rely upon it, and these systems need the exemption for all the same reasons that the Commission adopted it originally,” the notice said. Inside the commission, some have questioned whether the exemption should be modified to account for cable small systems that are carrying a number of other HD programming services, an FCC official said.
NCTA attorneys met with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai in separate meetings to push for letting the viewability rule expire this month while extending the HD carriage exemption for small systems, an ex parte notice said (http://xrl.us/bm93wq). They also highlighted the statutory authority the commission has to extend the HD exemption, pointing to Communications Act language describing carriage on “technically feasible” terms. Current viewability rules expire June 12.