Why have WMPT and WHUT been removed from analog service on the Cox system?
On June 12, 2009 Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) affiliates WMPT and WHUT moved from Cox’s analog basic tier to digital-only carriage. This change was made as a result of a voluntary agreement between APTS (the Association of Public Television Stations) and NCTA (the National Cable and Telecommunications Association) in late 2008. Although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has not issued a specific ruling on this agreement, the FCC has taken no action to prevent it from taking effect. As a result of the APTS-NCTA agreement, WHUT and WMPT have given up their “must carry” rights to transmission on the analog tier. In return, they will now be able to transmit several digital channels or streams of programming, rather than just one analog channel. Because WHUT and WMPT are no longer carried in analog form, some subscribers will now need to obtain set-top boxes to view those channels. Prior to June 12, 2009, subscribers with Cox’s analog service that had older analog (non-digita
