CenturyLink urged the FCC to take steps to...
CenturyLink urged the FCC to take steps to facilitate fair retransmission consent negotiations by opening a proceeding on the Block Communications petition. CenturyLink agrees with Block that consolidation among broadcast stations and multichannel video programming distributors is “increasingly removing more…
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localized marketplace considerations from retransmission consent negotiation discussions to the detriment of consumers in those markets,” it said in a filing in docket RM-11720 posted Friday (http://bit.ly/1lGJiRH). The FCC should modify its rules to promote fair retrans negotiations involving smaller, competitive MVPDs and broadcast stations, it said. Block asked the FCC to adopt “heightened good faith bargaining standards” for markets where smaller companies are more likely to be harmed by bargaining power of larger broadcasters and MVPDs (http://bit.ly/1iQRY3M). The American Cable Association (http://bit.ly/1nps2Pf) supported the petition; NAB is opposed. The FCC lacks authority to adopt the Block proposal, NAB said (http://bit.ly/1m4fJKh). Block somehow assumes, “without analysis or discussion, that the Commission has authority to approve its proposal under the good faith bargaining provisions of the Communications Act,” NAB said. If the FCC required broadcasters and MVPDs to submit for review details of their offers and other market and ratings data, it would “be in the driver’s seat, deciding what retransmission consent ‘negotiating positions,’ including rates, are ‘reasonable,'” it said.