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Cable, MVPD Notice

Key Retrans NPRM Question Added to FCC Rulemaking; Section 257 Report Is Out

A key and closely watched question was added by FCC members during the final stages of drafting a notice on retransmission consent, and it was unanimously approved at Thursday’s commission meeting. The rulemaking notice now asks whether the commission can require binding arbitration or carriage when either TV stations or subscription-video providers are found by the regulator to have not negotiated in good faith for a retrans contract, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake told us at a media briefing. Chairman Julius Genachowski and the other commissioners styled the notice as a way to see if the FCC can take more measures within the authority it already has under the 1992 Cable Act when talks over carriage deals for TV stations on cable, satellite and telco-TV systems break down.

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The item still finds that the commission doesn’t have authority from Congress to require arbitration or carriage, Lake said. FCC members recently agreed to expand the item, with the initial draft from the bureau saying comments weren’t being sought on the agency’s finding that it doesn’t have authority to mandate those interim solutions, other agency officials told us. The item also asks about seven negotiating practices that, when they aren’t undertaken by parties in retrans talks, could constitute a breech of good-faith rules, bureau attorney Diana Sokolow told the meeting.

The rulemaking asks about requiring TV stations and all subscription-video providers to give 30 days’ notice to their viewers and subscribers about a potential carriage dispute, agency officials including Lake said. Under current rules, only cable operators need to tell subscribers a month in advance when they know of a channel change that’s coming. “The problem is that a cable operator may not know whether its negotiations will be successful until the underlying” talks progress, less than 30 days before a retrans deal with a TV station expires, Sokolow said. The notice asks about giving subscribers such notice whenever a deal isn’t struck a month out, which could give consumers’ “adequate time” to switch TV providers, she said. “It could also encourage the successful completion of retransmission consent agreements more than 30 days before the contract expires,” Sokolow said.

Also Thursday, the FCC released a report to Congress on the hurdles faced by minorities and women in the media and telecom industries, along with three rulemaking notices dealing with wireless, wireline and video issues affecting those with disabilities. All four items recently were approved on circulation by commissioners (CD March 3 p4). The report to Congress under Section 257 of the Telecom Act, on what the regulator is doing to address hurdles to market entry, came 14 months after it was due. It’s at http://xrl.us/bikn6g.

The FCC has taken many steps to promote diversity, Genachowski said at his media briefing, in response to criticism from many groups that the agency has moved too slowly. “Today is a good example of promoting technologies for communities that are disadvantaged or have been left behind,” he said, citing items on tribal and other issues. And there are many things “in the pipeline” at the regulator to help in this area, Genachowski said: The agency has had “multiple discussions” about helping give more people access to capital to enter media and telecom businesses.