Wondering how important the digital “must-carry” issue has been for the cable industry? The popularity of articles on the topic may be an indicator. CTAM SmartBrief (CTAM stands for Cable & Telecommunications Marketing Association) reports that over the last week two of the top three most-read stories were on “must-carry” negotiations between the FCC and the NCTA. That in itself doesn’t seem remarkable given that the FCC’s ruling happened last week. However, in the last year stories on the “must-carry” topic slated in at number one and number two in the top ten most popular SmartBrief articles.
If the issue is that important to people reading trade newsletters like CTAM SmartBrief, it suggests two things to me:
- There is anxiety about the upcoming digital transition
- The cable industry is very keen on saving bandwidth where it can
