Bells, Cable Square off with NAB at FCC on Program Bits Plan

NAB said cable operators should carry all bits to ensure that viewers get the best possible picture from digital stations. Broadcasters want the FCC to make cable systems convert stations’ digital signals into analog for subscribers not getting digital service after Feb. 17, 2009. Cable and broadcast officials disagreed on whether the FCC should impose the dual carriage plan or a program bit requirement. They said both proposals have wide-ranging implications for their industries.

The NAB and the Association for Maximum Service TV said that requiring video providers to carry all bits would give the FCC a better way to gauge when program discrimination occurs. Newer technology lets cable operators measure whether all bits are carried, and the broadcast groups said that supports their case for a new rule. When cable operators cite the absence of material-degradation complaints to argue that current program rules work, they actually show that the rules need to be revamped, the NAB and MSTV said. “With a purely subjective standard, broadcasters may be deterred from preparing and litigating a degradation complaint because it is impossible to know in advance how the subjective standard will be applied,” they said. “An objective bit loss standard, in contrast, would allow broadcasters and cable operators to know in advance what is and is not permitted.”

Hogwash, replied cable and phone companies. New degradation standards could favor broadcast signals over other channels, said AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others. Verizon said the FCC shouldn’t try to fix what’s not broken, saying “the record in this proceeding demonstrates that there is no problem that warrants Commission’s adoption of expansive new rules.” Picture quality is a better measure of video quality than “the number of bits transmitted,” AT&T said. Using improved digital transmission and compression gear, video providers send higher quality signals than ever while boosting network efficiency, it said. “NAB baldly asserts that broadcasters transmit signals that are, in many cases, higher quality than cable-only programming channels,” without offering evidence of a difference, said AT&T.

Cable operators likely will appeal any FCC requirement to carry all bits, like they would a dual-carriage rule, said an industry lawyer. “The negatives of all of them outweigh the positives and none of them should be adopted,” the attorney said. The bits issue matters to TV stations because in compressing signals cable operators sometimes hurt picture quality, said broadcast lawyer Peter Tannenwald. Program discrimination doesn’t occur in such circumstances because cable networks’ own material is compressed similarly, he added. “You're doing something better, and the public ought to have the benefit of it,” he said. “I think the broadcasters should feel they're entitled to have their full quality product brought to subscribers.” Cable does just that, and any program bits it compresses don’t effect picture quality, said the cable source. NCTA Senior Vice President Dan Brenner said cable operators will ensure that customers get high-quality pictures during and after the digital transition. “But we need the right rulebook to make it work right,” he said. “The must-carry proposals and the carry all bits [plan] are issues with which the cable industry has a very strong legal and policy disagreement.”

Making cable operators carry digital and analog signals for all must-carry stations would reduce system capacity to carry high definition content by Discovery and other cable networks, said the NCTA’s filing, warning that new programmers would find it difficult to get carriage. “Dual carriage would be a gift to must-carry broadcasters that would disserve cable customers who are already guaranteed delivery of must-carry broadcasters’ signal,” the NCTA said. Forcing cable systems to carry all bits would increase bandwidth demands without improving picture quality. “Broadcasters, DBS operators and cable operators all use digital compression, which reduces the number of ‘content bits’ in a way that is virtually imperceptible to the human eye,” the NCTA said. It said new ways to measure picture quality touted by NAB and MSTV would show whether all bits are delivered, not if pictures are degraded. In joint comments, NAB and MSTV said dual carriage would not take up “anything close” to a third of cable system capacity, the limit under the 1992 Cable Act.

Cable commenters warned that dual carriage could hurt the digital transition. The NCTA said it will slow the shift as cable devotes more bandwidth to must-carry stations and less to other uses. Cable operators have plenty of reasons to minimize the transition’s effect. “The impact, however, will not be minimal if operators are forced to make even more room for lightly-viewed over-the-air broadcasters by adding a 6 MHz carriage burden per must-carry station,” the NCTA said. System capacity is often around 750 MHz. Comcast said the FCC should train its sights on other DTV issues. “The Commission has far bigger DTV transition ‘fish to fry’ that it needs to address - and soon,” such as placing public interest requirements on digital broadcasters and running the 700 MHz auction, Comcast said. “Rather than spinning its wheels and revisiting well-settled rules and prior decisions, the Commission should be tending to unfinished business.”