AT&T Broadband, Fox Reach HDTV Pact

AT&T Broadband & Internet service has inked a retransmission agreement with Fox Television Stations that will give its customers access to Fox digital television programming until 2009.Under the agreement, AT&T will rebroadcast high-definition television (HDTV) signals via all of its upgraded 750 megahertz or higher cable television plants. AT&T signed a similar deal with NBC earlier this year. Retransmission agreements are crucial to the success of HDTV. If deals such as this aren't voluntarily reached, the FCC could implement must-carry rules that would force cable operators to carry all of a broadcaster's HDTV programming, gobbling up channel bandwidth and possibly diminishing revenues for over-the-air broadcasters. Fox owns 22 local broadcast stations in the U.S. The retransmission agreement covers all of the stations, which reach 40 percent of the country. In addition, Fox has agreed to help AT&T broadcast digital programming to its entire subscriber base, even those which have not been upgraded, officials said.Source: Karen J. Bannan, Inter@ctive Week