Public TV and the cable lobby have ratified the carriage deal announced in late January.
The deal, struck by the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), ensures that local PBS affiliates will get cable carriage for their digital signals, starting this year.
"With this agreement in place, local public television stations will move forward with their plans to produce more high definition, children's and local programming secure in the knowledge that their viewers will receive it," said APTS chief John Lawson.
NCTA President and CEO Kyle McSlarrow said, "Ratification of this agreement represents an important step in ensuring that cable customers will for the foreseeable future enjoy the creative, non-commercial digital programming producing by our nation's public television stations."
The agreement covers about 300 public stations; the NCTA represents cable systems that encompass nearly 90 percent of the nation's cable households.
The agreement was originally announced just days before the FCC reiterated its position against multicast must-carry.
