Cable firms don't have to multicast

[Gregg Lengling]

By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY

Cable companies are not required to carry the multiple digital TV channels that many local stations are broadcasting, the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) ruled Thursday.

The decision, which was expected, is a victory for cable companies as a growing number of TV stations send out programs in digital and as sales of high-definition TVs surge.


About 1,400 of the nation's 1,700 TV stations are broadcasting some shows digitally. Many are beaming high-definition pictures, but a growing number are instead "multicasting" - chopping their digital streams into four to six separate channels.


Their offerings include 24-hour local news and weather, live coverage of political debates and regional sports.


To see the shows, consumers must have a digital TV or subscribe to the digital tier of a cable system that carries the channels. Most of the channels are not on cable.


Broadcasters argue that a federal law forcing cable systems to transmit their main channel also requires them to carry the multicasts. Several say they'll scrap multicasting without that "must-carry" guarantee.


The FCC (news - web sites) sided with cable companies, which contend the law requires transmission of a broadcaster's "primary video," or the main digital channel only. The term was clearly intended to "restrict or limit the video that must be carried," says FCC Chairman Michael Powell.


Fellow Republican Commissioner Kevin Martin dissented, saying that without cable carriage, "Many of these programs will not have the opportunity to succeed." Small and minority broadcasters will be harmed most, he says.


FCC Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein suggested they would have supported a must-carry rule if the FCC had forced broadcasters to air some public-affairs and similar shows on the additional channels.


Broadcasters vowed to fight the ruling. The National Association of Broadcasters "will be working to overturn today's anti-consumer FCC decision both in the courts and in Congress," says NAB head Edward Fritts.


The FCC also unanimously decided that cable companies don't have to carry a broadcaster's main analog and digital channel at the same time. That affirmed a tentative ruling and was less controversial.


Broadcasters typically are transmitting both channels because most people don't have digital TVs. While several hundred digital channels are on cable, many are not.


By the end of 2006, broadcasters must return their analog channels to the government, but only if 85% of homes in a market can receive digital signals. That threshold could take decades to reach, so lawmakers want to speed the transition by requiring technology to convert digital signals to analog for those who don't have digital sets.


Separately, the FCC said that a $5 fee many consumers pay when they change long-distance companies should be cut to $1.25 when the switch is done by computer. But the fee will rise to $5.50 if long-distance companies continue to make the change manually, by calling the local phone company.