Cox Struggles to Offer More HDTV

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Cox last week broke the impasse with the NBC affiliate, but the cable operator has still been unable to reach an agreement with the local Fox station for its high-def signal.

"There's not enough HD programming and (Cox is) raising rates," Robert Bishop, one local high-def owner, told the newspaper. "It's crazy."

Cox subscribers can't see 24 in high-def in Tucson.

The fight over high-def signals is not unique to the Tucson area. Broadcast groups that own local stations in St. Louis, Albuquerque, Providence, Norfolk, Indianapolis and several other cities are denying either the cable or satellite operator there the right to carry their high-def signals unless they are compensated.

By federal law, a TV provider can not offer a local station's signal to its subscribers without its permission.

The battle generated national interest prior to the Super Bowl when Sinclair Broadcasting threatened to deny nearly one million Mediacom Cable subscribers an opportunity to see the big game in either standard or high-def.

However, the two companies reached an agreement less than 48 hours before the game after two U.S. senators urged the FCC to resolve the dispute.

Still, the fight carries on in numerous other cities around the country and high-def viewers are left in the middle. In Tucson, some HDTV owners say Cox needs to make peace with Fox -- and add more national high-def channels.

Cox has asked local officials to permit them to remove some public access channels to make room for more national HD.

Wendell Byram, who just moved to Tucson from Boise, Idaho, said the local cable operator in his old hometown offered a better HD lineup.

"It's significantly better and (Boise) is 185,000 people," Byram told the Arizona Daily Star. "Wouldn't you think Tucson would have better offerings as a larger market?"

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Phillip Swann is president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com or at 703-505-3064.

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