The Spectrum Act provides for cable operators to...
The Spectrum Act provides for cable operators to be “held harmless” for costs that result from the spectrum incentive auction repacking, said NCTA in a meeting with Media Bureau staff last week, according to an ex parte filing Tuesday (http://bit.ly/15tE7eJ).…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
A cable operator would be entitled to reimbursement “for the reasonably incurred costs of carrying a broadcast station that has must-carry or retransmission consent rights on the cable system, regardless of whether that station had previously been carried on the system,” said NCTA. Costs to cable operators associated with the repacking could come from the need to buy new antennas, reposition existing ones, or change software, NCTA said. Although NCTA conceded the Spectrum Act refers to the “reimbursement of costs ’to continue’ to carry a broadcast signal,” NCTA said this passage is “best understood” as referring to reimbursement for the costs of fulfilling a station’s continuing carriage rights following repacking or channel sharing. “The right to continued carriage may be on the system currently carrying the station or it may be on a different system, if as a result of repacking or sharing the station is permitted under the Commission’s rules to move to a new location,” said NCTA. Not reimbursing cable operators “acting to fulfill the broadcaster’s right to carriage” would create an “asymmetry” in favor of broadcasters, NCTA said.