FCC Should Waive Emergency SAP Pass-through for Analog and Hybrid Cable, ACA Says

The FCC should waive a requirement that cable systems pass through emergency info on a secondary audio programming (SAP) stream for small cable systems that provide analog service, the American Cable Association said in a waiver petition filed Wednesday. The requirement has a May 26 compliance deadline, but cable systems using analog systems can’t pass through SAP to their subscribers, ACA said. Applying the new rules to systems incapable of full compliance “will harm these operators and their subscribers” when alternative means of compliance or additional time could “achieve full industry participation at a later date,” ACA said.