Lawmakers should use the 2014 reauthorization of the Satellite...
Lawmakers should use the 2014 reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) as an opportunity to “fully examine the current video services marketplace and update specific outdated provisions of the 1992 Cable Act,” said Independent Telephone and…
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Telecommunications Alliance President Genevieve Morelli in a news release Thursday. The comments addressed recent remarks by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who said he believed Congress will pass a “clean” reauthorization of the law (CD May 24 p3). Morelli said Walden should use “any and all opportunities, including the STELA reauthorization process, to legislate policy that will reflect today’s video technology and marketplace,” said the news release. In particular, Morelli said Congress must address the increasing prices that consumers pay for video content: “Each year, unbalanced retransmission consent negotiations increasingly subject consumers to possible blackout situations. Most of the resulting agreements are forced on video service providers by broadcasters who maintain all of the negotiating leverage which represents a fundamental market failure. Ultimately, the result is higher video rates to consumers that are necessary to cover the significant increases in retransmission consent fees imposed by broadcasters.”