ACA, PBS Sign Digital Accord

WASHINGTON -- The Association of Public Television Stations(APTS) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) finalized a major digital cablecarriage agreement with the American Cable Association (ACA), the organizationsannounced today.

“The agreement assures that millions more Americans will have access to the richdiversity of high quality, non-commercial digital and high-definition televisionprogramming for the foreseeable future,” said APTS President and CEO John Lawson.“I’d like to thank Matt Polka for his leadership in reaching this important agreement onbehalf of his membership and the customers they serve.”

The deal is expected to be ratified and adopted by members of the ACA and PublicTelevision stations by mid-October.

“I congratulate ACA, APTS and PBS for this historic carriage agreement,” said FCCCommissioner Jonathan Adelstein. “Families, particularly parents and children in smalltowns and rural areas, will now get to enjoy the benefits of Public Television’s multiplestreams of quality, first-rate programming. It’s a win-win for cable operators, publicbroadcasters and, most importantly, the viewing public. Two years ago, I worked hard tofacilitate a similar agreement between NCTA [National Cable and TelecommunicationsAssociation] and APTS. Public broadcasters and cable operators have told me theagreement has really worked out well for both sides. The flexibility given to cableoperators to optimize their channel capacity is very much worth the additional familieswho get to watch non-duplicative Public Television and independent programming.”

American Cable Association (ACA)