Belo Keeps Fighting Multicast Demise at FCC

[Gregg Lengling]

Belo, the Dallas-based broadcaster that's pushing multicast issues inside the Beltway, delivered a "policy statement" to the Federal Communications Commission asking the regulatory entity to delay its upcoming vote on multicast carriage of digital broadcast signals.

It's expected the FCC will vote on a proposal at its Feb. 10 meeting that would kill multicast carriage of broadcast material by cable and presumably satellite TV. In explaining the company's request in his FCC letter, Belo Chairman and CEO Robert Decherd said important issues surrounding the digital TV transition should be considered more comprehensively by Congress and the new FCC chair before a final decision is made.

Decherd said that decisions are "currently being made in Washington as to the level of carriage that broadcasters will have in the new digital environment as it relates to cable operators and satellite providers." He added, "Without full digital must carry, I believe the government sets in motion an information delivery infrastructure that will be controlled by just seven companies - the five dominant cable companies and the two satellite companies.

"Given that 85 percent of Americans subscribe to one of these services and receive their broadcast signals directly through them, the cable and satellite companies operate as the gatekeepers between the local broadcaster and local communities we serve," Decherd said in his policy statement.