Comments of Kyle McSlarrow Regarding the House Draft Digital TV Transition Legislation

"We applaud the leadership of Chairman Barton, Chairman Upton and members of the House Commerce Committee for drafting a balanced bill that accomplishes the important public policy goal of moving the digital TV transition forward.

 

 

Cable had concerns with some aspects of the original draft, but because we recognize the importance of assisting Congress to minimize consumer disruption caused by the transition, we are willing to accept the significant obligations that are now part of this proposed legislation.

 

Specifically, our industry will accept the dual carriage obligation of limited duration in the bill. Under the committee draft, cable operators – on all systems except those with limited capacity – would provide both a digital and analog must-carry broadcast signal to customers for the first five years after the transition takes place.

 

We are willing to make this significant concession expressly to facilitate Congressional action returning broadcasters' analog spectrum for important uses like public safety and to facilitate the consumer transition.

 

In addition, cable operators have agreed to incur and pay for the costs of downconverting must carry broadcast signals from digital to analog so that millions of cable customers with analog TV sets will not need a separate converter box to watch their favorite broadcast station.

 

We are pleased that this legislation rejects a multicasting mandate. We remain adamant that multicasting requirements are unconstitutional and not in the best interest of our customers, and we will continue to oppose them.

 

We look forward to working with Chairman Barton, Chairman Upton and other Members of Congress to complete the digital transition."

 

 

 

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