PBS HD on Satellite TV
We read today in TVPredictions.com satellite TV operators may soon need to carry the Public Broadcasting Service’s HDTV feeds:
Public Broadcasting officials say satellite TV operators should be required to carry their High-Definition signals.
PBS executives from across the country are coming to Washington this week to urge Congress to change the Communications Act to include a must-carry provision.
"DIRECTV and EchoStar use scarce public airwaves to beam their signals to and from satellites," says John Lawson, president and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS). "They use highly valuable international orbital slots for these satellites. It’s outrageous that they won’t carry the new digital channels from local public stations, but find a way to carry the big four commercial network stations."
DIRECTV and EchoStar have expanded their local HD service over the last year, but do not offer the PBS high-def signal in most cities.
APTS says the Communications Act should state that the satcasters must carry PBS’ "entire multicast digital programming," which would include the high-def signal and other digital feeds.
Satellite TV services are required to carry the analog feed of the local PBS station under the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act.
APTS says DIRECTV is considering carriage of PBS digital feeds, but talks are at an early stage. EchoStar, the group says, is refusing to carry the PBS digital feeds.
In January 2005, the PBS group signed an agreement with the National Cable and Telecommunications Association for carriage of all PBS digital signals on large cable TV systems. APTS says it hopes to sign a similar agreement with smaller cable systems in the near future.
The Association of Public Television Stations Web site gets into the details:
Specifically, APTS seeks to amend Section 338 of the Communications Act to make clear that the digital signals of Public Television stations are subject to the carry-one carry-all provisions related to carriage of local broadcast signals via satellite. This action would clarify that the entire multicast digital programming transmitted by a Public Television station is subject to mandatory carriage.
Gotta love Variety’s witty headlines:
Public broadcasters lobby on carriage
Networks plea to Congress for satellite TV signal
By WILLIAM TRIPLETT
Local pubcasters are set to launch a lobbying blitz to convince Congress to mandate carriage of all their digital signals by satcasters DirecTV and EchoStar.
As the Assn. for Public Television Stations hosts its "Capitol Hill Day" this week, reps from local noncommercial broadcasters from around the country will converge on Congress to express their frustration that "the high-definition signals of commercial stations are carried by satellite distributors, while public television stations’ new digital signals are kept off," according to an APTS statement.
They will therefore ask in the coming days that Congress support legislation requiring that DirecTV and EchoStar carry all local pubcasters’ HD and other digital programming during the transition to all-digital TV and after it is completed in February 2009.
