Martin: Multicasting Is Key Benefit For Hispanics

“FCC Chairman Kevin Martin took the opportunity of a speech to a Hispanic technology summit in Washington Tuesday to pitch his multicast must-carry proposal, which would require cable operators to carry a broadcasters digital multicast channels.

Martin pointed out that Spanish-speaking viewers make up a third of the 15 million homes that rely on analog TV, the ones that will be most affected when the analog signal is shut off to most over-the-air viewers in February 2009.

Martin also talked of the “burden”–he repeated the word three times–of having to buy a converter box or digital TV that the government is imposing through the switch, saying that requiring cable to carry new free Spanish-language channels could turn that burden into a benefit.”

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