Those conditions often get overlooked, but can mean something if regulatory agencies are willing to flex their authority. On Wednesday, the FCC made a ruling that might demonstrate a willingness to do just that.
The agency was asked to review a dispute between a Pittsburgh-based regional sports network ("RSN") owned by DirecTV and independent cable distributor Armstrong Utilities. According to Proskauer, the law firm representing Armstrong, it's the first ruling of its nature.
What makes this dispute unique is that Armstrong Utilities took advantage of RSN arbitration requirements the FCC had imposed in mega-media transactions like News Corp.'s purchase of DirecTV, Liberty Media's purchase of DirecTV and Comcast's purchase of NBCUniversal.
Under the imposed program, if parties can't agree on the terms of a license deal, they can go to "baseball-style" arbitration where each side presents their best, final offer with an arbitrator choosing which offer "most closely approximates the fair market value of the programming carriage rights at issue." It's intended to counter the vertically-integrated might of big media companies and limit the threat of blackouts when carriage fights break out.
hollywoodreporter.com
The agency was asked to review a dispute between a Pittsburgh-based regional sports network ("RSN") owned by DirecTV and independent cable distributor Armstrong Utilities. According to Proskauer, the law firm representing Armstrong, it's the first ruling of its nature.
What makes this dispute unique is that Armstrong Utilities took advantage of RSN arbitration requirements the FCC had imposed in mega-media transactions like News Corp.'s purchase of DirecTV, Liberty Media's purchase of DirecTV and Comcast's purchase of NBCUniversal.
Under the imposed program, if parties can't agree on the terms of a license deal, they can go to "baseball-style" arbitration where each side presents their best, final offer with an arbitrator choosing which offer "most closely approximates the fair market value of the programming carriage rights at issue." It's intended to counter the vertically-integrated might of big media companies and limit the threat of blackouts when carriage fights break out.
hollywoodreporter.com
