At the Portals
It looks like FCC chmn Kevin Martin is up to his old tricks of pushing regulations that the cable industry hates. The latest is a plan circulating that would let broadcasters demand both digital and analog carriage in 2009. The analog signals could be dropped if all subs have the needed set-tops to view the digital signals. NCTA has long fought attempts at mandated dual-carriage and isn’t any keener on this plan. "This plan appears to conclude that the digital TV transition can be solved by disenfranchising millions of customers by forcing them to rent a set-top box they may not want, and will in fact cost more because the Commission has refused to repeal its $600 million-a-year set- top box tax that begins in July," an NCTA spokesman said, referring to the set-top integration ban that requires operators to stop deploying boxes with integrated security after July 1.