BiggyTV, Sky Angel Push for New Interpretations of MVPDs
Arguments by big programmers against changing the FCC's interpretation of what a multichannel video programming distributor is and against changing content distribution rights "provide no concern for what options should be included in the new definition of MVPDs that would…
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address consumer concerns regarding skyrocketing pay TV costs ... only that they want to continue with the status quo," BiggyTV said in a filing posted Friday in docket 14-261. The MVPD status quo "does not promote innovation or competition," BiggyTV said, and new MVPD definitions should cover online video distribution efforts by existing MVPDs "so that the playing field for new entries is leveled." MVPDs all should have the same access to in-home devices for distribution of their own over-the-top services over rivals' hardware, and no MVPD should have exclusivity because of a technology platform or relation to "transmission based" MVPDs, it said. BiggyTV also called for content creators to be able to negotiate separate license fees and not be forced to sign exclusively with an OTT MVPD and argued against bundling, and it backed the American Cable Association calls that various retransmission consent negotiating tactics like blackouts of marquee events be considered bad faith. Separate ex parte filings by an overlapping array of programmers made up of CBS, Scripps Networks Interactive, Time Warner, Viacom and Walt Disney had almost identical wording as they argued against FCC involvement in buying of programming rights for online distribution, and such "'cut and paste' lobbying should embolden the FCC to make the pro-consumer changes within the new definition of MVPDs," BiggyTV said. The proposed MVPD interpretation before the FCC now "in no way represents 'new' law or regulation" but simply would reconcile FCC policy with Congress' intent that "a service which distributes live, linear video programming in a way that is functionally equivalent to cable television and satellite distribution systems similarly qualifies as an MVPD," Sky Angel said in a filing posted Thursday in the docket. Pointing to MVPD program access rules, Sky Angel said "consumers deserve the pro-competitive protections that Congress put in place ... so that small and start-up entrants, such as Sky Angel, or established companies intending to move into new offerings, may have access to the regulatory tools in place and intended to support new live linear video distribution services."