Time Warner Cable attorneys discussed how it would deliver must-carry TV...
Time Warner Cable attorneys discussed how it would deliver must-carry TV stations to subscribers if the FCC’s viewability rules sunset next month, in a meeting with Media Bureau and Office of General Counsel staff, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bm6uv5).…
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“Where TWC chooses to cease analog transmission of one or more must-carry stations in a hybrid digital/analog cable system, it will provide advance notice regarding available equipment that will enable subscribers with direct connections to analog television sets to continue viewing such broadcast signals.” The meeting also covered how Time Warner Cable has given digital converter boxes, or DTAs for digital tuning adapters, to subscribers in its Augusta, Maine, cable system where it has stopped delivering analog service. The lawyers also fielded FCC staff questions about how the operator’s basic service rates, and the type of equipment compatible with conditional access technologies from various vendors and the extent of TWC’s switched digital video deployments. “This letter confirms that TWC to date has not deployed DTAs in a Cisco cable system, but TWC understands that Cisco does make DTAs available for use with Cisco headend equipment,” the ex parte notice said. Time Warner Cable uses switched-digital video in the overwhelming majority of its systems to deliver some cable networks, but hasn’t used the technology to deliver any broadcast signals, it said. “Accordingly, TWC’s use of SDV technology will not have any impact on its delivery of must-carry broadcast signals if the Commission’s viewability mandate sunsets."