Leased Access, on the Wane, Sees Coming FCC Rules as Hastening Decline
Leased access rules changes on the June 6 FCC commissioners' meeting agenda (see 1905160066) will benefit cable operators and further the declining use of leasing access on their systems, industry members said in recent interviews. Cable "has great, great lobbyists," while leased access operators lack comparable resources, said Bruce Clark, co-owner of TV2, which reaches parts of Arizona and Nevada.
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Despite the little advocacy in the record from the leased access industry or allies, the item might not have unanimous eighth-floor approval. An FCC official said the item raises some possible commissioner concerns that the changes could eviscerate the leased-access industry by making it prohibitively expensive.
The draft rules changes represent yet "more roadblocks" to leased access programmers, discouraging its use, said Leased Access Programmers Association Vice President Duane Polich, noting particularly the elimination of a requirement cable provide part-time leased access. He said leased access producers don't want cable companies to lose money on part-time access, but few producers need 24/7 access and some reasonable balance is needed. Polich said charging deposits for information also seems unjustified -- especially when that inquiry by a programmer might not bear fruit -- since cable operators should have a basic packet of information readily available. He said the rules changes would likely just grease the path to more migration away from cable distribution.
NCTA didn't comment on this story. It pointed us to a 2018 filing in which it said making cable operators reconfigure their systems to satisfy leased access users would conflict with the statutory protection against leased access adversely affecting system operations.
The current rules already let cable operators "gouge" leased access programmers "to the nth degree," said TV2's Clark. Three months ago, TV2 ended cable distribution and distributes solely online, he said. The challenge since has been convincing advertisers, despite its morning show attracting about 60,000 viewers a week, he said.
Missouri's Lake TV still leases access on Charter Communications' local Spectrum system but is increasingly focused on online distribution of its content given the costs and its inability to get its program listings on the cable company's online guide, said owner William Holtz. But ditching cable distribution altogether isn't feasible because of the number of Lake of the Ozarks vacationers who watch via the cable feed to area hotels, motels and condos, he said. Until Roku and web-streaming audiences for its coverage of local events and attractions, including boating events, pick up more, the cost of being on cable "will have to be something we bite the bullet on," he said.
The cost of leasing access is likely one reason for its decline, said Steve Johnson, whose Home Town TV is a round the clock leased access programmer with local church services, government meetings and sports in two South Carolina counties. He said even with being able to negotiate lower rates with Charter, "it's still not cheap." Also likely leading to less leased access is the growth in internet distribution and more cord cutting by viewers.
Not all programmers have contentious relationships with cable distributors. Leased access "gives us freedom to develop content that regular TV won't," emailed radio show host Eric Jones, who in April began leasing three hours daily in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Comcast's system for a variety of programming. He hopes to add additional content. "My goal is to bring back good TV," he said, saying plans include "a good news show because we can tune into local news and CNN for all the bad news."