October 1999
"Priming The Pump": The Role of Retransmission Consent in the Transition To Digital Television
By Stuart N. Brotman

II. DIGITAL TELEVISION'S ROLLOUT

In broadcasting, the FCC has adopted a time-sensitive schedule that mandates digital television rollout in several waves. The first wave requires affiliates of the top four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) in the top ten markets to have a digital signal on the air by May 1, 1999. In the second wave, affiliates of the top four networks in markets 11-30 must be on the air by November 1, 1999. Finally, by May 2002, all commercial broadcast television stations regardless of network affiliation or market size will be required to begin broadcasting in a digital format. ³

Given this schedule, competitive marketplace realities have compelled a response from the cable television industry. As Bob Perry, director of marketing at Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America recently noted, "[t]he cable industry has a fairly limited time horizon to make decisions [about digital]. If not, cable may lose the most profitable households to other service providers." ⁴ Since cable is competing vigorously with digital television services offered by direct broadcast satellite companies such as DirecTV, it has a real marketplace incentive to carry an attractive range of digital broadcast and other programming services that offer real value to cable subscribers.

⁴ Junko Yoshida and George Leopold, Consumer Vendors, Broadcasters Ask Cable Industry to Get with the Program-DTV Hopes Rise Despite Tech, Political Hang-ups, Electronic Engineering Times, October 4, 1999.