Martin: Dual-Cable-Carriage Rules ‘a Critical Component’

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Fears Programmers’ Lawsuit Could Derail DTV Transition

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/7/2008 4:43:00 PM

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin Thursday called the FCC's dual-cable-carriage rules for TV stations "a critical component of the transition."

Asked at a digital-TV event in Washington, D.C., Thursday whether he agreed with National Association of Broadcasters president David Rehr that a suit by programmers to overturn that carriage requirement could derail the DTV transition, Martin said it was "critical to making sure that consumers are able to do what we've all told them today, which is that if they subscribe to cable, they will be able to watch broadcast television."

Martin joined other prominent DTV-transition figures including the presidents of the cable and broadcast trade associations and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez at a Best Buy in Washington to help kick off the DTV-converter-box-coupon program. That program is run by Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and it will give up to two $40 coupons toward the purchase of DTV-to-analog converter boxes.

Their message to consumers was that they needed to either subscribe to cable or satellite or buy a DTV or converter box if they wanted their analog-only TV sets to continue to receive full-power TV stations after the Feb. 17, 2009, transition to digital broadcasting.

The FCC has asked for $20 million for DTV education in its fiscal-year-2009 budget. Martin was asked Thursday whether that money -- which won't come until September 2009 at the earliest -- was coming too late. He said he didn't think so.