IP Democracy: Martin Fails to Win Majority on Multicasting

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has failed to win a majority among his fellow commissioners on the issue of multicasting and has pulled the item from the upcoming FCC meeting agenda. Even though the FCC has a Republican majority, Martin was unable, apparently, to persuade the latest addition to the Commission — Republican Robert McDowell — that cable operators should be forced to carry not only the primary digital signal of local television stations but also the additional niche channels that some broadcasters are preparing to launch.

This issue is truly a divisive matter even among Republicans — Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) supports Martin on multicasting while House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) opposed him on this mandatory carriage requirement. Meanwhile, everyone understands that cable operators, who have been fighting the must-carry fight for 25 years, would litigate all the way up to the Supreme Court any Commission rules that forced them to carry two, three, four or five local television signals where they had only reluctantly carried one.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on June 19, 2006 8:41 AM to IP Democracy