And then there is Cable:
dailynews.yahoo.com
Wednesday April 22 3:42 PM EDT
Cable Companies Want Slow Digital TV Rollout
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. cable television industry on Tuesday said it supported a gradual transition to digital broadcasting, but opposed government requirements that all signals be carried on their systems.
Some broadcasters, under government mandate to move to all- digital programming by 2006, want the Federal Communications Commission to extend its so-called must carry rules to their new high-tech offerings.
But cable operators lack the capacity to carry a new digital signal for each station in addition to the old analog signals that will
remain on the air for eight more years, according to Decker Anstrom, president of the National Cable Television Association
"The transition from analog to digital television is an evolutionary process to a new technology that is very complicated, will vary from market to market and will take time, " Anstrom said at a news briefing here.
"We should not rush and make bad decisions and we should not have the government become involved."
Under current FCC "must carry" rules, each cable service must carry virtually all local stations in its service area.
Anstrom said cable systems were adding capacity and installing digital technology so that, eventually, all digital and analog broadcast channels could be carried.
Until then, however, if the FCC requires a cable system to carry both analog and digital signals for all local stations, the system would have to drop cable networks like the Cartoon Channel or C-Span to make room for the additional signals.
The four major broadcast networks have agreed to begin sending digital signals in the top 10 U.S. markets by May 1999, even though very few consumers are expected to have digital TV sets by then.
The networks must broadcast digital signals in the top 30 markets by November 1999 and all commercial stations must go digital by May 2002 with non-commercial stations joining them by May 2003.
Stations may continue to also broadcast old-fashioned analog signals until 2006.
Digital technology will allow stations to send high- definition pictures or multiple ordinary pictures over the same amount of
airwave spectrum that currently carries a single analog channel.
Anstrom said cable companies were conducting active negotiations with broadcast networks concerning digital programming.
"We expect strong new partnerships based on our shared local identity to emerge during this process," Anstrom said.
While broadcasters are considering a variety of formats for digital programming, Anstrom said new cable set-top boxes being installed would be capable of displaying all the possibilities.
In addition to possible FCC action, Congress is also considering policies to regulate digital television. A House Commerce
Committee subcommittee on Thursday will hold a hearing on digital TV. |
