U.S. statute requires all must-carry TV signals be delivered to all...
U.S. statute requires all must-carry TV signals be delivered to all cable subscribers, even those who continue to receive analog-only service, Ion Media CEO Brandon Burgess wrote the FCC (http://xrl.us/bm5tep). “If the FCC, and therefore Congress by necessity, show an…
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appetite to examine the premises of must-carry/retransmission consent regime, we will be as open minded as any broadcasters you will encounter,” he wrote. “But given the current overtly consolidated marketplace that is largely hostile to independents, we vigorously oppose a latent hallowing of what amounts to 10-20 percent of the must carry doctrine without examining, and in parallel, adjusting the corresponding retransmission consent rules.” The commission should keep the viewability rules, set to expire in June (CD April 30 p9), until the cable operators complete their transition to digital delivery, Burgess said. The commission heard from other smaller broadcasters too. “Our must-carry stations are competing aggressively for advertising revenue,” said Randy Nonberg, president of Una Vez Mas, which operates a handful of Spanish-language stations. “Our audience continues to be able to view them, and we must be able to assure our advertisers that our stations are distributed throughout the entire market if we are to generate sufficient revenue to sustain our operations,” he said (http://xrl.us/bm5tfh).