ACA Seeks Limited Waivers for Talking Guide Requirements

Many midsized and smaller cable systems can meet the FCC Dec. 20 talking guide requirements deadline, but some won't due to the lack of commercially available compliant options available, said the American Cable Association in a docket 12-108 petition for waiver Monday. ACA asked for full or partial waiver for limited classes of MVPDs. It said under its proposal, if a system at some point no longer meets the criteria for a waiver, or a solution comes to market that allows accessibility of all the covered functions, that waiver would cease to apply and the cable system wouldn't be eligible for another. It said such waivers would allow small and mid-sized services that use QAM modulation and offer two-way services to avoid "significant costs" to comply.