Release of VPCI Is Within FCC's 'Broad Discretion,' Commission Says
The FCC's decision that programming and retransmission consent contract information should be available with safeguards to parties in the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV merger reviews is “within its broad discretion,” the FCC said in a respondent's brief filed in…
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the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Filed Friday in response to the content companies' petition for review of the commission's decision to release Video Programming Confidential Information, the brief asked the court to affirm the FCC's protective orders “expeditiously so that the merger reviews can proceed as promptly as possible.” The joint challenge by CBS, Disney, Viacom and other content companies “rests on the premise -- wholly unsupported -- that parties will not comply with the protective orders’ provisions, and that the Commission will not punish violators when warranted,” the brief said. The protective orders for the VPCI “contain robust safeguards against abuse, and the Commission has made clear that the orders will be vigorously enforced,” the brief said. Not allowing access to the VPCI would “weaken” the FCC's ability to defend a merger review decision against court challenges and disrupt the merger review process, the FCC said. Content company suggestions that VPCI in the record be made anonymous “would be inappropriate, are unworkable, and would only serve to create unacceptable delay that could, by itself, prevent the transactions from moving forward,” the FCC said.