FCC May Meet in Late August, Vote on Wholesale a la Carte
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has asked colleagues if they can convene in late August for the month’s FCC meeting, rather than Aug. 1 as planned (CD June 17 p2), said agency officials. Industry speculation mounted that Martin will ask colleagues to vote at the gathering on a coming order to bar programmers from tying carriage of cable networks they own to granting the cable operators permission to distribute TV stations. Votes on other media items Martin may seek at the August meeting include two related to the DTV transition, said cable and other lawyers.
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July may see no meeting votes on any item, said agency officials. As of Wednesday afternoon, Martin had circulated nothing to colleagues for public vote, they said. His office asked members to keep their schedules free for a monthly meeting the morning of July 29, before a commission hearing that afternoon at Barnard College in New York on minority and female ownership of communications assets.
But between Tuesday July 8 and Tuesday July 29 lie three weeks, the interval by which Martin has said he aims to circulate items before meetings. For the commissioners to vote at an Aug. 1 meeting, Martin would have to circulate any items meant for action on Friday, July 11, an increasingly unlikely possibility, agency officials said. “The timing is tough to do something August 1, because the July meeting would only be a couple of days earlier,” one person said.
Martin is believed to want to delay the August meeting to avoid letting nearly two months elapse between meetings. The September meeting is set for Sept. 25. Commissioners are checking their calendars about meeting later in August but no consensus on a new date has emerged, agency officials said. Martin has mentioned Aug. 22 and 25 as possible dates, they said. Officials called August a tough time to schedule a meeting. An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Media Bureau may wrap up work on a draft order mandating so-called wholesale a la carte rules on which the chairman could seek a vote at the August meeting, said communications lawyers. But the bureau is still writing the item, said agency and industry officials. It is expected to bar programmers from deals linking carriage of affiliated TV stations by cable operators and others selling TV to cable channels the programmers own, said agency and industry officials. Some lobbyists think Martin wants a vote on wholesale a la carte and a broadcast localism order at the same meeting. An FCC official discounted that prospect, saying localism is less of a priority for Martin than a la carte. Wholesale a la carte rules remain a Martin touchstone, agreed industry and agency officials. No FCC member other than Martin seems to support any a la carte rules, if a vote were held now, they said.
But a ban on tying arrangements is ripe for a vote, said American Cable Association Vice President Ross Lieberman and Parents TV Council Public Policy Director Dan Isett. Both groups want such rules. “We'd like to see movement on it,” said Lieberman. “There is a problem that needs to be addressed.” Isett agreed: “This has been a critical issue for a long time and it’s certainly one that deserves attention from the commission.” The NCTA declined to comment. Martin also may seek an August vote on rules making it easier for independent programmers to get cable carriage, said industry lawyers.
The August meeting could see Martin seek a vote on two DTV-related items, said cable and communications lawyers. One order would exempt low-capacity cable systems or those with few subscribers from a requirement that they make available in analog and digital the broadcasts of TV stations guaranteed carriage, for three years after Feb. 17, 2009 (CD June 25 p4). Such systems instead could carry must-carry signals only in analog if they offer the broadcasts to all customers. Martin also may seek a vote next month on an item setting a so-called quiet period (CD July 9 p14) during which carriage disputes between cable operators and broadcasters won’t lead to cutoff of the signals to subscribers as the digital transition is occurring, said communications lawyers.