Bill Would Empower FCC To Protect Pay TV Subscribers In Retransmission Disputes

dfergie said:

The proposal today from Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif) offers just the kinds of reforms that pay TV execs want, especially following the recent 32-day blackout of CBS-owned properties on Time Warner Cable systems.

deadline.com

Click to expand...

I like the sounds of that,hope it sees the light of day.Look at this shocking quote from the NAB.

But National Association of Broadcasters CEO Gordon Smith says it “could embolden pay-TV giants to continue to game the system” adding that “Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Dish are spending millions in Washington manufacturing a crisis over retransmission consent” although they are “responsible for nine out of 10 disruptions of service.

Click to expand...

Considering its pay what we ask or take the channels down,I would call that quote total bs!And if Dish DTV and Time Warner,are spending millions,that means the NAB is spending billions.

Contrary to the protestations of a few here, network TV isn't all that optional. As such, this bill may help but it must also provide guidelines for establishing that the carrier is actively negotiating as opposed to riding the law's protection.

Any law that doesn't speak to the bundling issue doesn't go nearly far enough. Mandatory bundling is a large part of the problem impacting both programming cost and bandwidth availability.