Broadcasters Dispute Need For Retransmission Overhaul
July 20, 2010
| 10:15 AM
The nation's top broadcasters wrote two lawmakers this week voicing concern about their call for changes to the process for providing broadcast programming to cable providers.
Executives from ABC, CBS, Fox television, NBC and Univision as well as the National Association of Broadcasters wrote Reps. Steve Israel, D-N.Y. and Peter King, R-N.Y., Monday to dispute their claims that retransmission consent agreements negotiated between broadcasters and cable providers "are outdated, that they lead to higher subscription rates, and that the government should somehow intervene."
The broadcasters noted that the retransmission consent process was created by Congress in 1992 as a way for broadcasters to receive "fair value compensation" for their programming from cable providers and other pay-tv providers. They noted that the current process has worked well for the most part and that service to cable viewers has only been disrupted in a "tiny handful of cases" for a short time. A retransmission dispute in March between Cablevision and Disney, which owns ABC, led to a short disruption in ABC programming for viewers in the New York Area.
The broadcast executives also disputed claims that the retransmission agreements have led to higher cable prices.
"There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that the simple fairness of sharing revenues with the broadcasters will force cable companies to hike rates on consumers. Indeed, the Congress should not abet the cable companies' implied threat that absent a federal bailout, they will punish viewers with higher bills," they wrote, adding that, "It is our sincere hope that you will take these findings and facts into account and reconsider
your call for changes to what has been an effective and successful federal policy."
Last week, cable operators, consumer groups, independent broadcasters, satellite providers, and telecommunications firms launched a new coalition to prod Congress and the FCC to overhaul the retransmission process, an effort broadcasters staunchly oppose.
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