Digital TV Facts: The Latest

Orange County’s public television station will grant use of one of its DTV multicast channels to a religious broadcaster, under reported terms of a settlement.

The sale of KOCE-TV in 2003 prompted a legal dispute with Daystar, a large owner of religious TV stations.

The effect on cable carriage of the channels is unclear. Cable systems will not be required to carry local digital TV stations until after February 17, 2009, when analog broadcasts shut down. Even then, cable operators need only carry a station’s primary DTV signal, not multicasts (a point the LA Times article neglects to mention). Public TV made a deal with major cable companies, under which they will carry a nationally branded package of multicast channels offered by many local PBS affiliates—but a worship channel might, I imagine, fall outside the terms of that agreement.

• Link: LA Times