FCC Sinks Multicast Must-Carry

[mhz40]

By Ted Hearn
Multichannel News
2/10/2005 10:32 AM    

In a victory for cable that took four years to achieve, the Federal Communications Commission voted 4-1 Thursday to reject a rule that would require cable operators to carry multiple programming services transmitted by digital-TV stations.

The National Association of Broadcasters pushed for multicast must-carry, saying that current rules that require carriage of just one programming service would handicap TV stations in their competitive struggle with cable and satellite systems offering hundreds of channels.

Voting to defeat multicast must-carry were FCC chairman Michael Powell and commissioners Kathleen Abernathy, Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps. Commissioner Kevin Martin backed broadcasters.