AT&T Good-Faith Complaint Targets Sinclair-Linked Stations; FCC Seen Often Loathe to Act
The silence in response to retransmission consent offers by AT&T resulting in 21 stations in 17 markets going dark on DirecTV and U-verse systems violates the FCC's per se good-faith rules, AT&T said in a heavily redacted docket 12-1 good…
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faith complaint Tuesday. It said the nine station groups -- seemingly controlled or operated by Sinclair -- left AT&T-owned DirecTV and U-Verse either on May 30 or June 10, and the station groups' conduct "violates both the letter and the intent" of good-faith negotiation rules. "They have simply refused to negotiate" by either rejecting particular AT&T terms or offering their own proposals, the telco said. It said even if not a per se violation, their not negotiating in good faith fails the total of circumstances test. It asked for an order that the groups begin negotiating in good faith, and unspecified forfeitures. Named in the complaint were Deerfield Media, GoCom Media, Howard Stirk Holdings, Mercury Broadcasting, MPS Media, KMTR-TV, Nashville License Holdings, Second Generation of Iowa and Waitt Broadcasting. The 17 TV markets are in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. AT&T said Sinclair had a financial interest in each and indicated it has significant control over them. Sinclair said Wednesday that while it provides services to the stations referenced in the AT&T complaint, it's "not involved in any way with the retransmission consent negotiations that are the subject of the complaint." Cable lawyer Craig Gilley of Mintz told us MVPDs often mull bringing a good-faith negotiation complaint as retrans deadlines near expiration, but few do because the FCC signaled it generally won't do anything with those complaints except in the most clear-cut cases. He said most disputes between broadcasters and MVPDs boil down to economics at that late stage, and the agency has been loathe to do anything that might be seen as government influencing the price of content. Broadcast lawyer Dan Kirkpatrick of Fletcher Heald said such complaints also are rare because requirements to meet a legitimate good-faith violation are very specific and an impasse isn't a basis. When such complaints do get filed, the sides typically come to agreement before the FCC has a chance to decide on the complaint, Kirkpatrick said.