News: FCC looks out for the small guy

It appears that there is a friend to the "small guy" and his name is Kevin Martin. If you're not familiar with whom Mr. Martin is, don't be surprised because not many people know who he is either.

Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman, is looking out for you. Or as some would say, "He's got your back." Well, it certain appears that way because earlier this week Mr. Martin was quoted as saying, "If the cable companies had their way, you, your mother and father, or your next door neighbor could go to sleep one night after watching their favorite channel and wake up the next morning to a dark fuzzy screen."

What Martin is talking about is the transition from analog television to digital TV that is supposed to take place in February 2009. The federal government is even getting involved to strike a deal that would assist Americans to buy a digital-to-analog converter box for those that rely on over-the-air broadcasts and have analog TV sets. The rules for cable operators weren't finalized until September 11th. The FCC voted 5-0 to require that cable operators must continue to make all local broadcasts available to their users, even those with analog televisions.

After broadcasters stop transmitting in analog, cable operators will have two signals to work with: digital standard definition (SD) and digital high definition (HD). Neither will work with analog TV sets, which the FCC estimates are still in use in 40 million American homes. After Tuesday's (Sept. 11th) ruling, cable operators will have two choices come February 2009. They can either convert the digital SD signal to analog SD and pipe it across their lines (which means using more bandwidth and carrying three versions of a single channel) or they can offer digital SD only and roll out converter boxes to all their subscribers (which could be expensive).

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association applauded the decision, thanking the FCC for "engaging so constructively and fairly with our industry." It did express worries about "the special circumstances of very small systems," which could face severe cost pressures by complying. The FCC will allow small operators (with a capacity of 552MHz or less) to request a waiver from the must-carry rules.

Thanks to the various FCC actions, analog TV owners are guaranteed a few more years of life out their TVs, though the new cable rules only last until 2012. At that point, the FCC will review them again and decide if they need to be renewed.