FCC Adopts ACA/NAB Compromise on HD Carriage Exemption
The FCC adopted NAB and the American Cable Association’s compromise proposal on the HD carriage exemption, as was expected (see 1505190057), said in a sixth report and order Wednesday. “The compromise reached by ACA and NAB as reflected in the…
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joint proposal reasonably balances the interest of broadcast stations in having their HD signals transmitted in HD and the interest of small cable operators in upgrading their systems to carry HD broadcast signals in a manner that is cost efficient,” the order said. “No industry commenter has lodged any objection to the joint proposal.” The compromise order exempts small cable systems not offering HD programming from the HD carriage requirement. Systems using the exemption stop being eligible once they offer HD programming, starting Dec. 12, 2016. After, systems using the exemption that start offering HD programming have to notify local broadcasters that they are doing so, the order said. The order also redefines “small” as cable systems serving 1,500 -- rather than 2,500 -- or fewer subscribers, and not affiliated with a cable operator serving more than 2 percent -- rather than 10 percent -- of all multichannel video programming distributor subscribers, or having an activated channel capacity of 552 MHz or less.