COMING ATTRACTIONS

Public television broadcasters and cable system operators are at odds over the new “must carry” laws that force cable systems to carry certain amounts of public television programming. Public TV broadcasters say the cable systems would drop such programming if they could, while cable operators counter that such claims are exaggerated and that the “must carry” regulations are “constitutionally indefensible.” Peter M. Fannon, president of the National Assn. of Public Television Stations, said that “over 2 million cable subscribers have lost access to local public stations” due to the non-implementation of the “must carry” rules by the Federal Communications Commission.