In the fast-paced world of digital television today, the "universality" of MPEG is not a slam-dunk to get programming from "point A" (the uplink) to "Point-B Telco"; another Point-B (Pegasus headend); another Point-B (DBS redistributor); and, finally, a Point-B "classic cable operator". This paper describes the issues which must be considered by a programmer desiring to provide digital programming to all users. Issues such as conditional access, statistical multiplexing, system information tables, and video profiles will be discussed