Battle brewing over digital TV rules

[Gregg Lengling]

WASHINGTON - To most couch potatoes, digital television means a sharper picture. Broadcasters see another advantage, though: They could offer up to six times as many channels.

Broadcast networks say they'll offer more channels if the government requires cable companies to carry them. More channels would mean more choices, stiffer competition and better programming, they say.

But cable companies, which have room for only a limited number of channels, say a federal mandate could force them to drop cable services to make room for extra broadcast channels. Those channels might carry nothing but infomercials or home shopping shows, they say.

The cable industry, which serves more than two-thirds of the 108.4 million U.S. households with television, insists that it, not the government, should decide which channels find homes on their systems.

The issue is before the Federal Communications Commission, which is expected to decide by spring whether cable companies must carry the extra broadcast channels.

The fight is due to the transition to digital broadcasting, which will be standard in most areas by 2006. A digital signal can carry more information than the current analog transmissions without using any more space on the broadcast spectrum.

While some stations may use their digital signals for larger and sharper high-definition broadcasts, others may use the spectrum to air to up to six channels.

Broadcasters said the newer networks - Fox, the WB, UPN and Pax - became viable only because cable companies were forced to carry the UHF channels with that programming.
Requiring cable to carry the digital broadcast channels will offer even more alternatives, they said.

"Cable is definitely afraid of competition from free local broadcast channels," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. "Consumers ought to be afforded the choice."
The cable TV industry said those extra broadcast channels may eventually wind up on cable systems, but the First Amendment gives operators, not the government, the power to make that decision.

"Generally speaking, cable wants to carry compelling programming," said Dan Brenner, senior vice president for law at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. "If broadcasters have compelling programming, we'll carry it."
Consumer advocates worry the extra channels would give the largest broadcasting companies even more control over what people see and hear. Instead of four network-controlled channels in a market, viewers could see up to 24 if each of the four major networks - ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox - opts for the maximum six channels.

"Until steps are taken to reduce broadcasters' dominance over the most important sources of local news and information, they should not be given the benefit of more channels that cable operators are forced to carry," said Chris Murray, legislative counsel for Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.