[RTC List] KEET-WORLD

[William Van Hefner]

Ron,

I apologize for any confusion. FCC regulations require that compensation
paid to local TV broadcasters by cable companies is limited to COMMERCIAL
TV stations, although they persistently fail to mention this distinction
in their literature. I'm not sure on the background as to why
non-commercial stations like KEET are the only ones exempt from being able
to charge fees to local cable companies.

As you mentioned, KEET has the right to demand a place on a preferential
cable channel for their main signal, due to must carry rules, as do all
other local broadcasters. The cable companies would much rather have basic
cable networks like USA or TBS  on those channels though, since they are
granted their own advertising slots on these networks during every single
show. It is a major source of revenue for them. Suddenlink is not legally
required to carry KEET's secondary DTV programming at all, let alone on a
channel that anyone could find it at, so they won't. It has nothing to do
with what people want to watch. It's about what makes the most money for
the cable company, and they can't make any money on PBS programming.

I wrote an article a number of months ago on the how the FCC's policies
actually discourage local (commercial) broadcasters from providing quality
over-the-air signals and how the rules affect local cable and satellite TV
subscribers. For anyone interested in why it is that cable subscribers
have to pay extra for local channels that the rest of us get for free, you
can find the article at
http://humboldtonline.com/hdtv/hdtv/local-tv-station-waivers/ .


-- 
William Van Hefner - President
Vantek Communications, Inc.
e-mail: editor at humboldtonline.com