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 STATEMENT  OF  CHAIRMAN  MICHAEL  K.  POWELL 
 Re:  Implementation  of  Section  304  of  the  Telecommunications  Act  of  1996,  Commercial  Availability  of  Navigation  Devices;  and  Compatibility  Between  Cable  Systems  and  Consumer 
 Electronics  Equipment. 


 Today’s  decision  by  a  unanimous  Commission  is  a  victory  for  consumers  and  a  major  step  in  the  digital  television  transition.  Consumers  who  want  digital  television  sets  will  have  an 
 easier  time  connecting  them  to  their  cable  service  and  having  them  work  with  high  definition  and  other  digital  programming.  I  am  more  convinced  than  ever  that  high  definition  programming  is 
 becoming  a  competitive  differentiator  among  television  programmers. 
 But  programmers  who  want  to  roll  out  new  high  definition  programming  need  people  to  be  able  to  see  the  programming.  Until  now,  many  consumers  have  been  reluctant  to  invest  in  the 
 newest  televisions  because  of  uncertainties  about  compatibility  with  cable  systems  and  set  top  boxes.  The  FCC’s  actions  today  are  a  major  step  toward  alleviating  those  problems. 


 I  would  take  this  opportunity  to  acknowledge  the  leadership  of  key  Congressional  leaders,  including  Chairman  Billy  Tauzin  and  Chairman  Fred  Upton,  on  the  issue  of  digital 
 television.  Their  personal  commitment  in  this  area  bears  fruit  today,  and  consumers  are  the  beneficiaries. 


 Of  course,  at  core  of  the  digital  television  transition  is  programming.  It  is  important  to  me  that  we  preserve  incentives  for  program  producers  to  invest  in  high  value  content.  Today’s 
 decision  facilitates  protection  of  high  value  content  on  cable  systems  by  providing  incentives  for  cable  and  consumer  electronics  manufacturers  to  work  together  to  include  various  content 
 protection  technologies  in  consumer  devices. 
 Now  that  we  have  taken  this  step  in  the  cable  world,  we  must  immediately  turn  our  attention  to  broadcasting.  Over  35  million  Americans  continue  to  receive  television 
 programming  exclusively  from  over-  the-  air  broadcasters.  And  over  30%  of  all  television  sets  in  this  country  are  not  connected  to  cable  or  satellite  service.  The  viability  of  our  free  broadcasting 
 system  is  a  high  priority  for  me,  and  the  government  needs  to  ensure  that  broadcast  television  is  not  disadvantaged  as  a  delivery  platform  for  high  value  content. 


 In  that  regard,  I  plan  to  deliver  to  my  colleagues  a  draft  decision  on  the  Broadcast  Flag  proceeding  in  the  very  near  future.  All  affected  parties  should  be  aware  that  this  proceeding  is  in 
 the  on-  deck  circle.  I  look  forward  to  working  with  my  colleagues  and  the  public  on  this  important  proceeding. 


 Finally,  I  wish  to  be  clear  that  our  encoding  rules  included  in  today’s  Plug  &  Play  decision  are  not  intended  to  modify  existing  copyright  law.  Consumers  and  content  owners  retain 
 all  of  their  existing  rights  and  remedies  under  copyright  law.  In  this  proceeding,  the  FCC  simply  looks  to  copyright  law  for  guidance  on  policies  that  will  promote  the  DTV  transition. 
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