NCTA Boss Dumps On Martin Class A Plan

NCTA BOSS DUMPS ON MARTIN CLASS A PLAN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin apparently believes there's no TV problem that cable shouldn't be charged with solving. National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Kyle McSlarrow will tell Congress today that Chairman Martin “has proposed a new and unprecedented must carry mandate for low power television stations, injecting new uncertainty and potential litigation at a critical time in the DTV transition." McSlarrow was reacting to press reports that Martin is looking at rewarding more than 500 Class A stations with so-called full-power status, entitling them to mandatory carriage on local cable systems for the first time. Chairman Martin hopes that full-power rights will spur Class A stations to upgrade to digital, which would lessen concern about the small number of digital-to-analog converter boxes approved by the U.S. Commerce Department that can pass through analog signals.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6531630.html?nid=4262