Retrans Talks May Go Faster When FCC, Hill Keep Quiet, Broadcasters Say
Talks for new retransmission consent deals during blackouts of carriage may move more quickly when there’s little involvement from lawmakers and regulators, as shown by an eight-day dispute between Dish Network and LIN Media, broadcast executives said. The DBS provider resumed carrying 27 of the broadcaster’s stations in 17 markets March 13. The blackout didn’t last as long as a much higher profile dispute between Cablevision and News Corp.’s Fox network, which took almost twice as long to resolve. The lack of public involvement from the FCC or members of Congress, both more active on Cablevision-Fox, may have been among the reasons that Dish-LIN was resolved more quickly, said some broadcast industry officials.
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Dish-LIN was unique among recent retrans blackouts and disputes that have come close to signal cutoffs in that neither side was asked by commissioners’ offices to keep them apprised and FCC officials had no public comments on the talks. The companies did keep the Media Bureau updated (CD March 8 p2) throughout the blackout, and the bureau encouraged a settlement, agency and industry officials said. An FCC spokesman and a Dish representative declined to comment.
Not being distracted by having to respond publicly to lawmakers and regulators during the signal blackout, as well as dealing with them behind the scenes, may have helped the sides come to an agreement more quickly, said CEO Vincent Sadusky of LIN. “I'm encouraged by it, because I believe that the more overtures that are made by the legislators” or the “FCC has the potential to encourage the [cable operator] that there may be some type of intervention and to encourage them to hold their position longer,” he said. “That perhaps happened with some other disputes prior to ours.” The relative quiet this time around may be “a sign that legislators and the FCC view the current retrans process as one that results in very few outages, is purely a commercial dispute between two for-profit entities and ultimately with regard to our broadcast channels, viewers are not prevented from viewing our channel” over-the-air, Sadusky added.
Lack of sports programming may have played a role in keeping the dispute more low-key, said Bruce Beckner of Garvey Schubert, a former cable lawyer who has been involved in previous carriage disputes. The prospect of not having the commission closely involved usually is “in another universe,” and this case may be different because Dish provides service across the U.S., and isn’t concentrated in any area as are cable operators, he said. “Even if both sides in the dispute shared a common resolve” to keep government out, “I'm not sure it would be possible to do it in private,” he said of other spats.
The American Television Alliance said it disagreed with broadcasters’ contention that Dish-LIN showed TV stations and subscription-video providers often can work out disputes on their own. “Broadcasters saying this shows why the FCC doesn’t have to do anything are sugarcoating the bitter pill that LIN forced viewers to swallow by blacking out 17 markets,” said a spokesman for the coalition. Its members include both DBS companies and many cable and telco-TV providers. “Some viewers even lost two stations for eight days,” he added. “This makes the case for changing the FCC’s outdated rules, particularly allowing carriage of distant signals during blackouts."
Not so, said broadcast industry officials. “It usually works out better when the government doesn’t get involved,” said CEO Brian Brady of Northwest Broadcasting, which owns five TV stations. He’s also the chairman of the Fox affiliates board. LIN owns several Fox stations. “Left to two parties to work out, typically if you go off-the-air, the stations take an economic hit” through losing viewers, as does the pay-TV provider by “losing subscribers, so both parties are being damaged,” Brady said. “Usually that is going to force some sort of resolution.” An NCTA spokesman declined to comment
It’s “absolutely true” that lack of involvement by elected officials and regulators in a retrans dispute helps both sides focus on the talks, said an NAB spokesman. “Any time that government officials get involved, it provides incentives for the other side not to negotiate seriously,” he said. “The lack of clamoring from government sends the signal to the parties to get down to business and negotiate a fair and reasonable deal.”