Without broad audience guaranteed by cable carriage of digital si...
Without broad audience guaranteed by cable carriage of digital signals, PTV stations will face additional difficulty raising money from local, state and national sources for digital transition, heads of 3 public broadcasting organizations said in response to FCC’s decision…
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to require cable operators to carry only one multicast digital channel in rulemaking on digital must- carry (CD Jan 24 p3). In joint statement, CPB Pres. Robert Coonrod, PBS Pres. Pat Mitchell and APTS Vp-Policy & Legal Affairs Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis said carriage of only one digital channel, if allowed, would undermine PTV stations’ plans to provide wide range of multicast educational services to their communities. Millions of school children and 70% of nation’s TV viewers get PTV through their local cable system, they said, and for entire public to benefit from “our comprehensive array of digital education and local public affairs content, these cable systems must deliver all the educational noncommercial services that each station provides.” Thanking Chmn. Powell and Comrs. Ness and Tritani for “recognizing the potential impact of this decision on PTV,” they said they would work with them for “ a resolution of this issue that is faithful to the statute as well as to the public interest.” They said they would use opportunity in further notice to provide information to Commission to demonstrate that dual analog and digital carriage requirements during digital transition won’t burden cable operators’ First Amendment interests.