Reply #11: C-SPAN Is Not Must Carry [View All]

Must carry means your cable system must put on local television signals over those of the large corporate cable stations. This includes your local PBS stations and other stations that only cover your area, not the entire country. This leglislation regards the future of local TV...digital TV signals, that are currently operating, can carry upwards of 6 channels. The debate revolves around if the local cable operators must carry these signals at all.

The option to put C-SPAN on cable systems have always been at the discretion of the cable operators and Must Carry does not apply to them. How C-SPAN is affected is if the digital Must Carry provision goes through where all the "sub-channels" of your local station must be carried on the cable system or only a handful or none at all.

In a major city, this could mean your cable operator losing control of upwards of 20 or more channels...and the revenues they earn from them. C-SPAN is being used as a pawn in this game as if they did have to take these channels, they would either have to take off or move other channels.

The real deal here is that most cable systems have upgraded to digital...offering enough channels to handle all the local must carry signals as well as all the C-SPAN channels.

Yes, C-SPAN is "living history"...but it's also owned by the same cable entities that are crying wolf here. They've used it as a backdoor way to curry favor with the powers to be inside the beltway with Mr. Brian Lamb...a Repugnican...playing as the "good cop" here...while sneaking a GOOP agenda on his Washington Journal every morning.

On Edit: The FCC has NO jurisdiction over C-SPAN. This is a debate in the Congress.