FCC Program Access Order Revisions Under Way at Media Bureau
FCC staffers are working on revisions to the program access order that remains slated for a vote at the Jan. 20 meeting, commission and industry officials said. Some changes could expand what the rules would cover and others would shrink it, they said. Media Bureau staffers are believed to be close to finishing some revisions to the draft order first circulated Dec. 16 (CD Dec 16 p7). The revisions may address changes sought by Time Warner Cable and other companies and come after some commissioners discussed such tweaks, commission officials said.
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The new draft may circulate Friday or early next week, commission and industry officials said. Representatives of members’ offices haven’t met all together to discuss the order since the day it was circulated, commission officials said. That may change next week as members give the item more consideration after returning from CES in Las Vegas. There have been at least 20 lobbying meetings on the item this week, our review of ex parte filings found. Such increased lobbying had been expected (CD Dec 31 p3).
One likely change would expand the commission’s program access rules to regional sports networks (RSNs), the people said. The change could automatically subject such channels to program access rules or provide complainants alleging cable-affiliated programmer withholding of such networks hurts their ability to compete with cable operators in a specific market with a presumption in their favor, agency officials said. Program access rules prohibit cable operators from withholding their content from subscription-TV rivals when it’s delivered using satellites, and the initial draft order would expand that prohibition on a case-by-case basis to terrestrially delivered channels. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment.
A prohibition on withholding regional sports networks was sought by Verizon and a group representing AT&T, DirecTV, the Media Access Project, RCN and USTelecom, filings show. “The Commission should adopt an across-the-board ruling prohibiting cable operators and their affiliates from withholding access to this unique form of programming, without the need for further proceedings,” Verizon said. Executives met with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowell. The Coalition for Competitive Access to Content sought the extension of program access rules to “all cable affiliated RSNs including terrestrial and HD” and “all alternative forms of satellite-delivered content,” said filings on a meeting with bureau officials, FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick and a staffer in the Office of Strategic Planning.
“We feel that there is a strong case to carve in, or cover, RSNs,” coalition President John Goodman told us. “That’s the position we've taken with them in our most recent meetings.” The record before the commission shows that “when given the opportunity, operators will withhold programming,” Vice President Parul Desai of the Media Access Project said in an interview. She met with Commissioner Michael Copps and aides to all other FCC members besides the chairman, ex partes showed. “If the commission finds they have authority to have jurisdiction over terrestrial programming, then they should close the loophole completely,” Desai said.
Another possible change would benefit cable operators that own and often run local news channels which are exclusive to them, commission and industry officials said. The change would exempt local news programming from program access rules or provide a presumption in favor of such withholding when a rival complains to the FCC, they said. An NCTA spokesman declined to comment.
Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable are among the cable operators that sought such change, FCC filings show. Both companies own local news channels in markets where each also has cable systems. “Verizon itself offers exclusive home-grown channels akin to BHN’s channels: FiOS1 Washington, launched in 2008; and FiOS1 Long Island and FiOS New Jersey, launched in 2009,” Bright House said. “The FCC should explicitly exclude local origination program services like those described here from the reach of” Section 628 of the Communications Act, the company said. Representatives met with Lake and aides to all FCC members except Chairman Julius Genachowski, ex parte filings reported.
Time Warner Cable’s contention that it would be inconsistent for the FCC to encourage the development of proprietary news content through its media ownership proceeding while discouraging it in program access rules has met with sympathy among some at the agency, an official said. “The Commission should not take any action that impedes such beneficial undertakings” by pay-TV providers, Time Warner Cable said. “Indeed, as the Commission is contemplating ways to bolster the effectiveness of its media ownership rules in response to broadcast stations’ various efforts to combine local news operations in ways that harm the public interest, it would make no sense to create a regime that could result in compelled sharing of local news operations.”