FCC defended efforts to seek specific information from cable oper...

FCC defended efforts to seek specific information from cable operators about their current system capacity, plans for future capacity and retransmission consent deals covering digital programming while it conducts more general DTV survey of broadcasters. In response to recent letter from NCTA, Cable Bureau Chief Deborah Lathen said Commission sent detailed DTV survey only to MSOs because “we believe broadcasters that advocate dual carriage have an incentive to provide us with information in an effort to justify such a requirement.” Noting that agency tentatively decided against imposing dual-carriage obligations in Jan., Lathen said that “the onus is on those who favor mandatory dual carriage to provide the necessary information to overcome this existing presumption.” Moreover, she wrote, questions posed to cable operators in survey “are more objective and suitable for tabulation than the questions we might pose to individual broadcast stations.” She said questions in DTV must-carry further notice of proposed rulemaking that seek specific information about broadcasters’ DTV programming and formats should “help to focus commenters on the Commission’s need for specificity in the record.”