Ruling in cable’s favor on DTV must-carry again, FCC rejected eff...

Ruling in cable’s favor on DTV must-carry again, FCC rejected effort by Paxson Communications to obtain mandatory cable carriage of its 6 digital multiplexed programming streams in Chicago area. In little-noticed 5-page ruling late Tues., Cable Bureau denied Paxson’s petition to force AT&T Broadband, Charter, Mediacom and 9 other cable operators and overbuilders to carry broadcaster’s 6 channels on its digital signal (Ch. 46) instead of its WCPX (Ch. 38) analog station. Paxson argued that its 6 digital channels were entitled to must-carry because company was seeking to replace its analog signal with its digital signal, not gain dual cable carriage of its analog and digital signals. Paxson also contended that 1992 Cable Act required cable carriage of all TV signals, including digital. Its plan called for cable operators to replace WCPX analog signal with downconverted analog version of WCPX-DT primary digital signal and put 5 other digital channels on their digital programming tiers. But cable operators and overbuilders said FCC hadn’t issued DTV must-carry rules, and carriage of Paxson’s digital signal was unnecessary because they already were carrying its analog signal. Cable interests also asserted that there was no statutory right for mandatory carriage of digital signal downconverted to analog and Cable Act required systems to carry only single video service. FCC Cable Bureau, noting Commission’s earlier order tentatively concluding that broadcasters weren’t entitled to dual carriage of their analog and digital signals (CD Jan 24 p3), said it found Paxson’s requests to be “inconsistent” with that order. While DTV-only stations “may immediately assert their digital cable carriage rights,” agency said, TV stations broadcasting in both analog and digital modes can’t assert such rights until broader DTV must-carry issue is resolved. “In this instance, although Paxson has requested its digital signal to be substituted for its analog signal, it still holds 12 MHz of spectrum and has given no indication that it intends to return its analog spectrum,” Commission said.