FCC Unlikely To Adopt Mediacom-Pushed Retrans Rule Change
Mediacom’s attempt at pushing changes in retransmission consent rules at the FCC likely won't go far, the company acknowledges. But the FCC wasn't necessarily the intended audience when Mediacom this week petitioned the agency for rules largely blocking broadcasters' blackouts (see 1507070061). "I don't think the FCC will take it seriously," said Thomas Larsen, Mediacom group vice president-legal and public affairs. "If I was a betting man, I'd say the FCC sits on their hands. You throw out enough ideas, that's what we're hoping -- somebody [on Capitol Hill] will run with one of them. Maybe down the road a congressman or senator says 'You were told to serve the public; let's make it a requirement free TV is widely available or give us back your spectrum.'"
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The Mediacom proposal would take away a station's ability to end a multichannel video programming distributor's carriage of that station's signal once the retransmission consent agreement expires unless the station is available over the air or via Internet to at least 90 percent of homes in that market. The cable company has a history of proposing modifications to retrans-related rules, having filed a rulemaking petition last year that would have restricted Multichannel Video Programming Distributors from requiring bundling and other concessions during negotiations (see 1407310042). That petition, RM-11728, remains open.
The FCC should give Mediacom’s latest petition strong consideration, said Ross Lieberman, American Cable Association senior vice president-government affairs. Because the retrans market has actual problems, even if the FCC only solicits comments on the petition, “in Mediacom’s view, it helps advance the debate,” he said.
Mediacom's professed outrage at rising cable bills due to retrans consent fees is crocodile tears, NAB said. "Mediacom is really good at this kind of silly stunt," said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton. "There's a concerted effort going on by cable companies to manufacture [blackouts] in hopes Congress will step in and avert a crisis of their own making." And with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler having given some indications he's open to changing retrans rules (see 1505070046), "What better time to create a bunch of disruptions to service?" Wharton said. "These disruptions would end tomorrow if the FCC and Congress sent a clear message: 'We are not going to get involved in these free market negotiations.'"
Whether the FCC actually could do what Mediacom wants it to do is uncertain. In its petition, the cable company said the FCC "has clear authority" to adopt the rule under the Communications Act. "The FCC has made it pretty clear its flexibility to do anything fundamentally different with retrans is pretty limited," and the Mediacom petition is more about the company's long history of keeping its "retrans is broken" message alive, said Scott Flick of Pillsbury Winthrop, which represents numerous broadcast clients. The regulator "clearly doesn't have the authority to do a number of things Mediacom has requested," he said. The FCC declined to comment Thursday.
Mediacom's push also targets FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler specifically. "Your inaction only serves to embolden and empower broadcasters in their abuses of market power," said Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso in a letter accompanying the petition. "This particular communication was risky -- it seems to be an attack on the chairman," said a communications attorney who has represented broadcast clients. "It’s a high risk maneuver, trying to personally attack the chairman. I know Tom well -- he will laugh and say 'There they go again.' I don’t think it will endear them to the chairman. I do not think it advances the goal [Commisso is] trying to achieve."