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

C. MediaOne

These AT&T BIS deals are independent of prior digital retransmission agreements that were completed by MediaOne, the nation's fourth largest cable MSO, which will be acquired by AT&T if regulatory approval is granted. This would result in AT&T BIS emerging as the country's largest MSO. Nine broadcasters that have launched digital television services are within MediaOne's franchise areas. Each station's analog service is carried on MediaOne's systems pursuant to a prior retransmission consent agreement. MediaOne and its broadcast counterparts demonstrated foresight in these agreements by already including digital carriage as it rolls out. Out of the 187 MediaOne retransmission agreements in force, 33 percent have digital carriage provisions, including 8 out of the 9 broadcasters in MediaOne's service areas that have commenced digital service. These agreements cover markets with 3.3 million cable subscribers, which represents more that two-thirds of MediaOne's subscriber base. ¹⁴ Under the AT&T BIS framework discussed above, an approved acquisition of MediaOne could encompass its entire subscriber base, adding another 5.6 million cable subscribers with digital broadcast programming availability.