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FCC gives in to Dish and DirecTV, so no "carry one, carry all in HD" policy
The FCC has been the driving force behind the digital transition from the very beginning and feels that providers are using the digital transition as an excuse to stop carrying local channels. So, in an attempt to prevent provider's back door deals from interfering with your HD enjoyment, it had proposed a mandate that would require both Dish and DirecTV to carry every HD channel in a market,Me if it carried one HD channel in that market. Meanwhile, Dish and DirecTV both preferred to only carry the big four, citing limited bandwidth. So the FCC has instead given both carriers until 2013 to carry every HD channel in any market where it carries at least one. If only we were a fly on the wall of big cable's office -- the FCC wasn't so kind to them -- to watch 'em get as mad as we do when we can't watch our favorite show in HD.
Verizon FiOS strikes multicasting deal with PBS
While the government still ponders the must-carry multicasting situation, Verizon FiOS appeared to thumb it's nose at the cable companies today by announcing a deal with PBS and the Association of Public Television Stations to carry the programming of as many as three stations in one market, and additional stations as long as they are not duplicating programming from the other three.The cable industry struck a similar deal last year, where there is no limit on the number of stations carried, but the maximum number of multicast streams is 4. The Verizon deal has no limitation on the number of multicast streams carried, and includes PBS' high definition programming.Read - Verizon strikes deal to carry public stationsRead - Verizon, Noncoms unveil carriage deal
Cable companies continue to struggle with limited bandwidth
Every time we look around we are asking ourselves; where are all the new HD channels? We see new channels announced, but they still don't seem to be offered to us by our cable company and considering the price we pay per month; we want to know why. The hard truth is the simple fact that there isn't enough bandwidth. There would be plenty of bandwidth for HD if there weren't all those analog channels taking up so much space. Until there are more HDTV subscribers than analog subscribers the analog stations are going to continue to get the valuable bandwidth.
NAB speaks out against downconverting
The National Association of Broadcasters has joined the Big Four in petitioning Congress to stop a bill that would include provisions allowing cable television providers the right to downconvert HDTV broadcasts to DTV. Between this new article and a note on TV Predictions, we were also able to better understand what all the fuss is about. If you're as confused as I was, the point of contention here are "must-carry" laws, that would require cable companies to carry multiple HDTV streams that the local affiliates broadcast. The cable companies say this would use up their valuable bandwidth, while the affiliates fear that cable companies could refuse to carry their high definition broadcast unless the affiliates paid them to.That still seems to be a longshot, as we all know the most desirable HD programming is on the network stations, if cable companies limited that then why would their subscribers pay extra for HD? Additionally, if the reason I can't get HGTV-HD is because there are three ABC affiliates in my area, that would really suck. Of course in some areas cable is all there is and if they refused to carry an HD Super Bowl or other event without payment, customers would be stuck with HDTVs and no HD. Worse yet, they are still trying to force Broadcast Flag legislation through that could prevent you from recording high-def broadcasts. All this government talk makes me want to turn to C-SPAN, why aren't they in 720p yet?Read - Broadcasting & CableRead - TV Predictions
