SBCA Applauds FCC’s Decisions on Dual Carriage and Multicast

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 10, 2005 – The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA) today released a statement following the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decisions on multicast and dual carriage at today’s open meeting.

“SBCA is pleased with the FCC’s decision on these two critical issues and we applaud the Commission for recognizing dual carriage as unconstitutional,” said SBCA President Richard DalBello. “This decision will have a positive effect on millions of Americans by allowing us to bring more diverse programming options such as HD and locals to consumers.”

Mandatory carriage of both analog and digital signals and multiple versions of a digital stream from broadcasters would create capacity constraints for satellite television. Because of its nature, DBS would lose valuable spectrum capacity by being forced to carry the same channel in multiple versions including some versions of data streams rather than video. Forced dual or multicast carriage could have deprived many of a wider array of programming choices and possibly slowed the rollout of local programming.

Today’s votes were decisive victories, coming in as 5-0 on dual carriage and 4-1 on multicast.

The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association is the national trade organization representing all segments of the satellite industry. It is committed to expanding the utilization of satellite technology for the broadcast delivery of video, audio, data, music, voice, interactive, and broadband services. The SBCA is composed of DBS, broadband, satellite radio, and other satellite services providers, content providers, equipment manufacturers, distributors, retailers, encryption vendors, and national and regional distribution companies that make up the satellite services industry. Additional information can be found at www.sbca.com.