Congress Should Consider Local Choice Again, CCIA Advises House Lawmakers
Congress should take up Local Choice again this Congress, the Computer & Communications Industry Association told House lawmakers in its Communications Act overhaul recommendations. Comments were due to House Commerce Committee Republicans Friday but haven't been publicly released by the…
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committee. The broadcast a la carte proposal of Local Choice, circulated in the Senate last fall and quickly abandoned (see 1409110036), “would enhance localism because the local station that foregoes must-carry and elects retransmission consent will need to compete with the other stations and provide compelling content that entices subscribers to keep the channel,” CCIA said. “Congress should fix the broken and outdated retransmission consent regime that is harming consumers with broadcast blackouts and rising fees.” CCIA said “online TV distributors lack enough subscribers to yield the market negotiating power necessary to obtain volume discounts,” amounting to a “significant barrier” in the market. Don’t let “regulatory creep” overwhelm Internet TV distribution, CCIA said. Congress could authorize the FCC to impose standstill requirements or allow multichannel video programming distributors to import distant network signals during retransmission consent disputes, CCIA said, and it could clarify FCC authority to grant interim carriage rights during broadcaster blackouts. The Alliance for Community Media, in its comments, urged several changes to telecom law to avoid “adverse” effects for PEG (public, educational and governmental access) channels. Congress should allow PEG access programming to have a statutory right to carriage on satellite TV systems and kill any distinction between operating and capital support for PEG programming, the alliance said. It wants that programming to be carried in both standard and high definition.