Get Set for Plenty of DC Action in 2007

GET SET FOR PLENTY OF D.C. ACTION IN 2007
[SOURCE: tvnewsday, AUTHOR: Michael Berg]
A look at four major issues likely to be decided by broadcast policymakers this year. 1) Indecency: Two major federal court appeals of FCC indecency rulings are moving toward 2007 resolution. In the balance between First Amendment freedoms and the Communications Act’s empowerment of the FCC to limit airwave indecency, the FCC in 2006 tended to emphasize enforcement. This year the appeals could alter that emphasis and produce clearer station guidelines. 2) The Digital Television Transition. 3) Multichannel Must-carry: In 2005 the FCC affirmed, over the objection of then-Commissioner (now FCC Chairman) Kevin Martin, that cable must carry applies only to a station’s primary digital stream, but not to additional multicast channels. As a result, unless the FCC or Congress changes the law, stations can get carriage of multicast material only through retransmission consent negotiations with cable operators. Broadcasters argue that the lack of assured carriage undermines development of new diverse programs and services that are part of the promise of DTV. Chairman Martin has sought to revisit the denial of multicast must carry. A vote was postponed last year, however, when the newest commissioner, Republican Robert McDowell, publicly questioned FCC authority to require it. The two Democratic commissioners have generally viewed multicast must carry more favorably, though they tie it to quantifiable public interest obligations for stations. 4) Video Franchising: For television broadcasters, 2007 video franchise developments may determine whether must carry, manner-of-carriage and other broadcast protections in cable law will apply to the new entrants; whether any cable retransmission consent changes will affect telco video; and whether there are opportunities to improve existing signal carriage law for broadcasters, perhaps as to cable, satellite and new competitors. Broadcasters have rights to protect at each phase of the developing law on these and other questions.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/01/12/daily.3/