Carriage Deals Work, Shouldn’t be Changed by Hill, Executives Say
LAS VEGAS -- Retransmission consent deals between broadcasters and pay-TV companies work well and the system that created them shouldn’t be changed through renewal of satellite legislation, executives said at the NAB show. Most speakers on a Tuesday panel said they saw attempts to change market definitions through the reauthorization of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act as a way for pay-TV companies to gain “leverage” over stations. Broadcasters must better explain to the public and members of Congress that the industry could be hurt if changes are made to SHVERA, some panelists said. But the head of the American Cable Association said retransmission consent isn’t working.
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“We all need to do a better job of making sure people understand that this is a time when we need to preserve local journalism, not attack it in unintended ways,” said Alan Frank, president of Washington Post Co.’s TV business. “It’s odd that here we are without retrans being an issue, it’s coming in through the back door” through proposals to change SHVERA, he said. “The fact that it’s actually being talked about in Congress, it seems to be a real disconnect” given there’s also a desire for better local programming, said Frank. “It’s an ironic twist” that as the FCC ponders localism the Hill could pass a bill hurting it, said Robert Rini, a broadcast lawyer.
Possible “encroachment” on broadcasters through changes to SHVERA “is going to have a unifying effect across the industry” with all broadcast entities against it, said Ben Tucker, an industry consultant who runs a Texas station. “The industry has got to be very careful” about “accepting any language that could destroy localism,” he said. Broadcasters’ desire for legislation to require satellite-TV companies to carry stations in all markets they serve has gotten an OK reception on the Hill, said Barrington Broadcasting President Jim Yager, speaking from the audience. Yager is chairman of the NAB’s TV board.
The last round of expirations of most carriage contracts, many of which ended Dec. 31, and their successful renewal shows neither Congress nor the FCC should change the system, speakers said. “What’s remarkable is that there have been only a handful of disputes” in recent years, said attorney Jennifer Johnson. “There was a lot of discussion and hype” with concern of impasses in the last cycle but that largely was “a leverage play,” she said. Predictions of a “train wreck” were belied, said Frank: “It was a good series of negotiations … You are 10 times more likely to have an outage caused by a cable service disruption than by a retrans dispute.” The NCTA declined to comment because it’s not directly involved with such negotiations, said a spokesman.
Remarks that retransmission consent works “should have stayed in Vegas because a market can’t be said to be working properly if a small cable operator with a tiny fraction of the pay-TV audience” in an area must “sign a bad deal or be denied access to must-have network programming,” ACA President Matt Polka told us. “Consumers are the victims either way. They end up paying more for local broadcast signals or lose access.”