STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN KEVIN J. MARTIN
Re:  In the Matter of Carriage of Digital Television Broadcast Signals:  Amendment to Part 76 of 
the Commission’s Rules; Implementation of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 
1999: Local Broadcast Signal Carriage Issues and Retransmission Consent Issues; WHDT-DT, 
Channel 59, Stuart, Florida, Application for Review, CSR-5978-M, Second Report and Order, 
and Memorandum Opinion and Order
Last fall, the Commission adopted an order that guarantees that all cable customers will be able to 
watch all broadcast stations after the digital transition.  Specifically, the Commission took action 
to ensure cable operators continue to make signals of all broadcast stations viewable after the 
transition, as the statute requires.  As a result, we significantly reduced the number of Americans 
potentially needing a converter box to watch broadcast stations post-transition.  Thus, the 
Commission made sure the 34 million households that subscribe to analog cable will be able to 
continue to watch broadcast television after the transition as they did the day before.  This 
allowed the Commission to focus its energies on assisting the over 14 million households that 
rely exclusively on over-the-air signals.  
Today, the Commission adopts an order that will enable satellite subscribers to receive digital 
broadcast signals, as well.  The Act requires that when a satellite operator chooses to carry any 
local broadcast signal, it must carry all full power local broadcast signals in that same market.  
The item adopted today clarifies that, in such a “local-into-local” market, where a full power 
television station is broadcasting only in digital the satellite operator must carry that digital signal 
upon request.  This clarification is critical to ensuring that satellite customers, like cable 
customers, will continue to receive the same broadcast stations they saw the day before the 
transition on the day after the transition.  We also require satellite carriers to carry each station in 
the market on the same terms, including carriage of HD signals in HD format if any broadcaster 
in the same market is carried in HD. 
We continue to strive for regulatory parity in our policymaking.  In this case, as it was last fall in 
the cable context, the American consumer is, and continues to be, our highest priority.  Without 
the proper policies in place, some viewers may be left in the dark or be unable to realize the full 
opportunities offered by digital technology.  The Commission remains committed to taking
whatever actions are necessary to minimize the potential burden the digital transition could 
impose on consumers and maximize their ability to benefit from it.