FCC Issues Cable Signal Quality Standards Order

The FCC released on Monday its order requiring QAM-based cable system operators to adopt the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers standard 40 as the performance benchmark for their systems. Commissioner Brendan Carr, in a Monday statement, said the order meets Congress' requirement the agency update its signal quality rules but that it avoids "unnecessary burdens on digital cable operators." The item, which had been on Tuesday's meeting agenda, was approved unanimously last week (see 1709220057). Unlike the draft order, the final order doesn't solicit petitions for rulemaking with proposals for preventing interference in bands above 400 MHz; NCTA lobbied against that solicitation (see 1709150003).