FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants to let small, low-power television stations convert to full-power status, and with that get mandated pick-up by cable stations, such as Time Warner Cable Inc and Comcast Corp
The policy change is aimed at boosting the reach of stations serving minority communities, according to Martin, who says 22 percent of the stations that would be affected carry Spanish programming.
Cable operators say such a change would illegally impose new burdens on them, violating their First Amendment right to free speech.
The five-member FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposed rulemaking at a meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday. A similar plan was pulled earlier this year for lack of consensus among the commissioners.
"Politically, it's been a very difficult thing," said Peter Tannenwald, an attorney for the Community Broadcasters Association, which represents many of the low-power stations. "I've visited with all of them. Nobody is willing to commit to a position."
Some skeptics, including the cable industry, say there are no guarantees that the low power stations in question are minority-owned or even serving their local communities because the FCC lacks data.
"Additional carriage obligations would have the potential for bumping off channels that already provide diverse programming," said Brian Dietz, a spokesman for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.
Even the Community Broadcasters Association acknowledges that the FCC lacks good statistics on media ownership diversity.
"The data is not there," Tannenwald said.
In addition, expanding so-called "must-carry" obligations by cable could very well be overturned by the courts, given recent legal decisions, said Blair Levin, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus.
"There is a long list of cable-related policies that are currently in the courts," he said. "I would put this one in the category of there being more legal problems for the FCC in defending this."
