The American Cable Association urged the FCC to...
The American Cable Association urged the FCC to adopt a rule mandating that broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors continue offering a broadcast station’s signal to consumers after a retransmission consent agreement expires. Under the proposed rule, the existing retransmission…
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agreement “would automatically be extended past its expiration date, and an MVPD would continue to pay the broadcaster for retransmission consent rights per such contract,” ACA said in an ex parte letter to acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/16iyj4I). When a new agreement is signed, the prices and terms of the new agreement would retroactively apply “to begin immediately after the previous agreement’s expiration date and any required true-up of prices would be applied,” it said. The proposal focuses “on the narrow need to ensure consumers have continued access to broadcast stations while parties continue to negotiate,” ACA said. The association bemoaned the ongoing blackout of CBS channels for Time Warner Cable subscribers (CD Aug 6 p2). For many pay-TV subscribers, “the inconvenience of the blackout will substantially increase if TWC and CBS cannot reach agreement before the first Sunday of the NFL season."