Powell Urges HDTV Cooperation

[Gregg Lengling]

Ted Hearn
Multichannel News
1/29/2003 12:32:00 PM
   Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell avoided taking sides Wednesday in the debate over cable carriage of the high-definition-TV feed of Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast by ABC.

Powell was asked to comment on the National Association of Broadcasters' claim that cable operators largely decided to "block" cable carriage of the National Football League championship game in HDTV.

"The way you described it to me I think is unfortunate," Powell told reporters at FCC headquarters, noting he was unaware of all the details.

"I think the only thing that is going to work is to make sure everybody stays in the playpen and makes DTV work for consumers, which are the only people that ultimately matter," he added.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association explained that many ABC independent affiliates were not carried in HDTV because they had demanded cash for access to the feed.

The NCTA indicated that cable operators would have had to recover HDTV-rights fees from subscribers, contrary to the wishes of the FCC.

Last April, Powell urged the cable, broadcasting, direct-broadcast satellite and consumer-electronics industries to commit to various goals to promote HDTV and the digital transition generally.

"The important point about public policy here is that they all have to come together," Powell said.

NAB and NCTA members held a private meeting in New York late last year to search for a compromise. But the NAB-NCTA clash over HDTV carriage suggested that goodwill was not in abundant supply.

"I don't know the specifics of what did and didn't happen," Powell said. "I think it would be a hazardous thing to suggest that any one incident along this tortured path of the DTV transition is compelling or indicative of an entire set of problems."