Post by dkennedy on Feb 4, 2005 6:23:14 GMT -5
Lombardo: Powell Rushing Multicast Vote
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By Ted Hearn 2/3/2005 5:58:00 PM
Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell is rushing a vote on a policy that would ban digital-TV stations from demanding carriage of multiple programming services by cable systems, a broadcasting executive said Thursday.
“It’s unfortunate that chairman Powell has decided to push an item as he’s walking out the door,” said Philip Lombardo, CEO of Citadel Broadcasting Corp. and joint board chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters.
Powell, who is planning to leave the agency in March, has scheduled a Feb. 10 vote that is expected to deny digital broadcasters so-called multicast must-carry. Fearing defeat, broadcasters are urging the FCC and the White House to postpone the vote until Powell’s successor is in place.
“I would hope that either [Powell] would reconsider or that a number of commissioners would think that makes a lot of sense,” Lombardo said in remarks to the Media Institute, a First Amendment organization funded by various media companies.
While nixing multicasting, the FCC is expected to ensure that each digital-TV station gets cable carriage of a single programming stream. Lombardo said broadcasters would fight the FCC multicasting ban in court.
An FCC source responded to charges of rushing a vote by noting that the agency is voting on a request filed by broadcasters in 2001 after the agency denied multicast must-carry the first time.
The commission is also concerned about receiving a court order sought by broadcaster Paxson Communications Corp. that may force it to vote on multicasting within 30 days.
Lombardo didn’t believe that the FCC was under pressure to decide the issue.
“[Powell] has already responded to the court that he will get around to it. He didn’t have to get to it this quick without any dialogue and without the ability to have other forces provide their thoughts on the matter,” Lombardo said.
A total of 12 Republican members of Congress, including three senators, sent Powell a letter Tuesday reaffirming their support for multicast must-carry.
The 650 affiliates of ABC, NBC and CBS have asked the FCC to postpone the vote, as did the head of National Religious Broadcasters in a letter to President Bush Wednesday.
Lombardo said that if broadcasters don’t get cable carriage to the extent they need, they will look to exploit the digital spectrum in new ways.
“It may be a pay service. It might be telephony,” Lombardo said. “If that occurs, all of the local public-interest initiatives will not be fulfilled. It’s a shame, in my opinion.”
In a letter Wednesday to President Bush, National Religious Broadcasters said Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell plans to "punish" TV stations by denying them full cable-carriage rights for their digital signals.
In the short letter, also sent to Bush political adviser Karl Rove, NRB president Frank Wright said that because Powell has announced his plan to leave in March, “it would seem exceedingly appropriate to wait and resolve this issue after you have selected the new chairman.”
FCC commissioner Kevin Martin, a Republican Bush appointee, is in the running for the chairmanship. Martin is considered supportive of broadcasters’ cable-carriage goals.
On Feb. 10, the FCC is expected to vote that cable systems are not required to carry more than one digital-programming service of each digital-TV station. Many broadcasters want mandatory carriage of every programming service (perhaps five or six channels) that they can transmit digitally.
Wright said Powell’s plan to reject multicasting would “unfairly punish broadcasters (including religious broadcasters) by allowing cable companies to avoid carrying our multiple signals in the digital environment.”
Wright also explained that the digital-TV transition involved some tough choices and broadcasters did not expect to benefit from all of them.
“Our concern is only that whatever decisions are rendered should be done in a comprehensive fashion. To single out this particular issue pertaining to broadcasters seems singularly inappropriate,” he added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ted Hearn 2/3/2005 5:58:00 PM
Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell is rushing a vote on a policy that would ban digital-TV stations from demanding carriage of multiple programming services by cable systems, a broadcasting executive said Thursday.
“It’s unfortunate that chairman Powell has decided to push an item as he’s walking out the door,” said Philip Lombardo, CEO of Citadel Broadcasting Corp. and joint board chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters.
Powell, who is planning to leave the agency in March, has scheduled a Feb. 10 vote that is expected to deny digital broadcasters so-called multicast must-carry. Fearing defeat, broadcasters are urging the FCC and the White House to postpone the vote until Powell’s successor is in place.
“I would hope that either [Powell] would reconsider or that a number of commissioners would think that makes a lot of sense,” Lombardo said in remarks to the Media Institute, a First Amendment organization funded by various media companies.
While nixing multicasting, the FCC is expected to ensure that each digital-TV station gets cable carriage of a single programming stream. Lombardo said broadcasters would fight the FCC multicasting ban in court.
An FCC source responded to charges of rushing a vote by noting that the agency is voting on a request filed by broadcasters in 2001 after the agency denied multicast must-carry the first time.
The commission is also concerned about receiving a court order sought by broadcaster Paxson Communications Corp. that may force it to vote on multicasting within 30 days.
Lombardo didn’t believe that the FCC was under pressure to decide the issue.
“[Powell] has already responded to the court that he will get around to it. He didn’t have to get to it this quick without any dialogue and without the ability to have other forces provide their thoughts on the matter,” Lombardo said.
A total of 12 Republican members of Congress, including three senators, sent Powell a letter Tuesday reaffirming their support for multicast must-carry.
The 650 affiliates of ABC, NBC and CBS have asked the FCC to postpone the vote, as did the head of National Religious Broadcasters in a letter to President Bush Wednesday.
Lombardo said that if broadcasters don’t get cable carriage to the extent they need, they will look to exploit the digital spectrum in new ways.
“It may be a pay service. It might be telephony,” Lombardo said. “If that occurs, all of the local public-interest initiatives will not be fulfilled. It’s a shame, in my opinion.”
In a letter Wednesday to President Bush, National Religious Broadcasters said Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell plans to "punish" TV stations by denying them full cable-carriage rights for their digital signals.
In the short letter, also sent to Bush political adviser Karl Rove, NRB president Frank Wright said that because Powell has announced his plan to leave in March, “it would seem exceedingly appropriate to wait and resolve this issue after you have selected the new chairman.”
FCC commissioner Kevin Martin, a Republican Bush appointee, is in the running for the chairmanship. Martin is considered supportive of broadcasters’ cable-carriage goals.
On Feb. 10, the FCC is expected to vote that cable systems are not required to carry more than one digital-programming service of each digital-TV station. Many broadcasters want mandatory carriage of every programming service (perhaps five or six channels) that they can transmit digitally.
Wright said Powell’s plan to reject multicasting would “unfairly punish broadcasters (including religious broadcasters) by allowing cable companies to avoid carrying our multiple signals in the digital environment.”
Wright also explained that the digital-TV transition involved some tough choices and broadcasters did not expect to benefit from all of them.
“Our concern is only that whatever decisions are rendered should be done in a comprehensive fashion. To single out this particular issue pertaining to broadcasters seems singularly inappropriate,” he added.