NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow is going to work for Comcast, with the title of president of Comcast/NBC Universal in Washington, the cable association and the No. 1 U.S. cable operator confirmed Wednesday afternoon. Comcast is the biggest member of the NCTA. McSlarrow said in November that he was leaving the cable association, where he’s held the top job since 2005. Those close to him at the time had said he hoped to work as an executive in the cable industry, and some had speculated he'd go to Comcast.
Drafting by career staffers is far along on FCC and FTC reports about media, after both studies missed internal goals to have been released earlier, officials of the agencies told us. Recent work on the FCC’s Future of Media report has concentrated on the final part, which will offer policy recommendations, commission officials said. Some media executives have said they'll study the reports closely to see how the agencies will approach their industry, and that’s especially true with the FCC report, because the agency is also reviewing media ownership rules.
The contract dispute between Dish Network and LIN TV continued Monday for a third day. The DBS company and broadcaster couldn’t agree to a new retransmission consent deal after the previous one for 27 stations in 17 markets expired Friday night. Some had anticipated LIN’s stations would be pulled from the DBS provider after they blamed each other for contractual differences (CD March 7 p3). The FCC is continuing to keep tabs on the dispute, and continues to signal to the parties it hopes there will be a settlement, agency and industry officials said. “We continue to monitor this closely,” an FCC spokesman said Monday, declining further comment.
The FCC has been seeking to avert the cutoff of 27 TV stations owned by LIN in 17 markets to subscribers of Dish Network, agency and industry officials said Friday. At 11:59 p.m. Mountain time that day, the stations which include affiliates of the four major broadcast networks, were scheduled to go dark on the DBS provider unless the two sides agree to a retransmission consent contract extension. Career agency officials have been signaling to both sides that they'd like them to work out a deal, whether it’s a new, long-term contract or a brief extension, FCC and industry officials said.
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.
Meredith Baker may get another term as FCC commissioner. Her name apparently was sent to the White House for renomination for a full term by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Republican industry lobbyists watching the process. Baker, a Republican, joined the commission in 2009, filling the unexpired term of Kevin Martin. He resigned just before President Barack Obama was inaugurated. Baker’s current term ends June 30. She had the backing of Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, also a Texas Republican.
A divided Congress can help broadcasters avoid harmful legislation or regulation by slowing down consideration of issues detrimental to the industry, NAB President Gordon Smith said Thursday. “When it comes to broadcast issues, it is helpful to us, to have an extra check and balance between the chambers” so issues are “fully considered,” he said. That’s because decisions can have “lasting and damaging consequences,” Smith said in response to our question on C-SPAN.
NAB confirmed that it’s in talks to merge with the Association for Maximum Service Television, in what broadcast executives said amounts to MSTV’s shutting its doors and its personnel going to NAB (CD March 1 p18). NAB said MSTV’s board unanimously approved the deal Wednesday, following approval by NAB. No deal has yet been finalized, but it’s expected to be concluded once issues including about staffing are resolved, an industry official said. NAB President Gordon Smith will have “consolidated leadership” concerning broadcast spectrum and technology issues, NAB said: Its board made a “strategic direction to elevate technology issues within the organization.” NAB has been seeking an executive vice president of technology. MSTV President David Donovan might not work for NAB after the merger, industry executives said. MSTV Senior Vice President Victor Tawil and Vice President Bruce Franca are expected by some to go to NAB. The MSTV executives and an NAB spokesman had no comment.
Tribes without ancestral lands would receive an assist from the FCC in getting AM and FM stations, under a draft order set for a vote at Thursday’s meeting, agency officials said. A landless tribe could get a waiver of commission rules by showing that it should receive a priority now reserved for tribes with lands, FCC officials said. That part of the radio order is not controversial inside the commission or out, agency and industry officials said.
The FCC in recent days approved four items on circulation that will be publicly released soon, including a report to Congress about minorities and women whose delay had prompted criticism by many groups, commission officials said Wednesday. They said the commissioners have approved the report about how the FCC is reducing barriers that minorities and women face entering the media and telecom industries. It had been due at the end of 2009.