AT&T raps multicast must-carry
June 13th, 2006AT&T does not want to be forced to grant channel slots on its new TV service to local commercial broadcasters’ multicast offerings, according to an FCC filing. The telephone company’s stance puts it in the same corner with the cable industry—although AT&T maintains its U-verse IPTV system is not a cable service under federal law.
Negotiations between video providers and station owners should determine whether digital TV multicasts get carriage, AT&T argues. Perfectly reasonable. But what about the company’s grumble about multicast channels that disappear for part of the broadcast day, squeezed out by HDTV programming:
Designing the network to accommodate shifting digital-TV signal formats would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” per programming stream, AT&T said, adding that the FCC needed to take those costs into account as the agency “considers ways to increase video choice for consumers.”
Is that hyperbole? Or has AT&T invested billions in an IPTV system that’s amazingly inflexible ?
[UPDATE (6/14/2006): An AT&T senior executive now says the company supports multicast must-carry.]
Earlier:
FCC to move on cable slots for multicasts, report says
• Link: Multichannel News