Schurz Communications urged the FCC not to change its policies on joint sales agreements (JSAs) and shared services agreements. Cable complaints about joint negotiation of retransmission consent agreements are unjustified, it said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1ht05EI). “The proposal to prohibit only broadcasters from entering into joint sales agreements with another local station would result in asymmetrical regulation,” it said. If the FCC requires such arrangements to be dismantled, “there would be substantial, and perhaps devastating, breakup costs incurred by both parties,” it said. “The station now receiving services would have to create infrastructure and obtain services elsewhere that it needs to operate,” it said. Schurz, Entravision and NAB met this week with staff from the offices of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai, Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, it said. They also met with Media Bureau staff. Meanwhile, Sinclair urged the FCC to evaluate JSAs within the larger context of the statutorily required 2014 quadrennial review, it said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1hsCyDZ). The commission’s failure to analyze recent increases in competition in both the video and advertising sales markets “makes any piecemeal rulemaking arbitrary and capricious,” it said. Sinclair again said it’s concerned about the consequences of attributing JSAs for ownership cap purposes “without permanent grandfathering for existing JSAs and those currently awaiting FCC approval as part of pending assignment and transfer applications, because there is no evidence that selling a station’s advertising spots influences the programming decision of that station,” it said. Complaints from multichannel video programming distributors claiming that broadcasters enjoy undue leverage in retransmission consent negotiations as part of JSAs also have no basis in fact, it said. Broadcasters remain “at a tremendous disadvantage in compensation negotiations,” it said. Although almost 40 percent of TV viewing is of broadcast signals, broadcasters received only 9.5 percent of basic cable fees in 2013, it said. The filing recounts a meeting with staff from the offices of commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai.
If the FCC attributes Joint Sales Agreements, the commission should grandfather in all existing such agreements, the Nevada Broadcaster’s Association said in an ex parte filing Wednesday. “Forced termination” of JSAs would “substantially” increase costs for affected stations and undercut their ability to compete, “leading to reduced programming and diversity, and potentially to total loss of broadcast service from those stations,” NBA said. Attributing JSAs would “effectively ban them outright in most markets despite their public benefits,” NBA said. The FCC should “utilize a triage approach” to evaluating ways to revitalize AM radio, NBA said. The commission should “act as soon as viable options are identified, rather than delay until all of the numerous options have been assessed in order to release a single Report and Order addressing all proposals,” NBA said.
Sinclair Broadcast Group called Buckeye Cablevision’s complaint against it “frivolous.” A letter from Buckeye supplementing the complaint seeks to “short-circuit the well-established process for resolving retransmission consent disputes, and seeks expedited treatment of its complaint,” Sinclair said in a response (http://bit.ly/1k7p83U). Buckeye alleged that Sinclair failed to negotiate in good faith a retransmission consent agreement with Buckeye (CD Feb 21 p20). The supplement letter asked the FCC to take enforcement action against Sinclair (http://bit.ly/1c5NMPV). The companies haven’t been able to reach agreement, resulting in a blackout of programming from WNWO-TV, Toledo, since last week. The FCC has made clear that multichannel video programming distributors and broadcasters alike “will not be required to engage in an unending procession of extended retransmission consent negotiations,” Sinclair said. “When Buckeye failed to respond, it was not bad faith for SBG to advise the public that the parties are so far apart that negotiations had ended and that the station involved will not be carried for the foreseeable future.”
Local commercial TV and radio broadcasters create $1.24 trillion of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and 2.65 million jobs annually, said a study this month by Woods & Poole Economics and BIA/Kelsey, released by NAB as part of its state leadership conference (http://bit.ly/1cIS6SX). The study analyzed local broadcasting and didn’t include noncommercial radio and TV or broadcast networks, except for network owned-and-operated stations, the study said. Employment data used in the study is from 2012,the study said. Local broadcasting also has a “ripple effect” on other industries through the goods and services consumed by broadcasting employees of “over $138 billion in GDP and more than 856,000 jobs,” the study said. “Broadcasting’s largest impact on the American economy stems from its role as a forum for advertising of goods and services that stimulates economic activity,” said NAB. Local TV and radio advertising generated $1.05 trillion and supported 1.48 million jobs, the study said.
The American Television Alliance backed the Department of Justice “shining a light” on “dubious practices” by broadcaster resource-sharing deals that can involve separately owned stations negotiating with multichannel video programming distributors for retransmission consent, said ATVA in a news release Friday night. Justice asked the commission to attribute joint sales agreements (JSAs) for ownership cap purposes, in a filing posted earlier Friday to docket 09-182, which also shows broadcasters and MVPDs continue lobbying the FCC on media ownership and retrans (http://bit.ly/OtUbK0). The average retrans fee Cable America Missouri pays ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates when those stations coordinate carriage talks is 19 percent higher than for separately negotiated stations, said the cable company in a filing posted to the docket Friday (http://bit.ly/1hif0kZ). JSAs “can be vital to allowing new, diverse entrants” into the TV business, wrote the general manager of Tougaloo College’s WLOO Vicksburg, Miss., which has a JSA with WDBD Jackson. Justice said JSAs should be attributed under media ownership quotas, which would limit the ability of stations to enter into them. “Without the JSA, we would not be able to operate the station as effectively as we do,” wrote the WLOO representative (http://bit.ly/1cgzMNI).
The Sports Fans Coalition, Public Knowledge and other public interest groups asked the FCC to investigate whether the NFL coerced broadcast networks and/or affiliates into buying unsold tickets to NFL regular season and post-season games in 2013 to avoid sports blackouts. Even though the league “grants itself all kinds of flexibility to move ticket sales deadlines or cover up seats that haven’t been sold … they still allegedly chose to coerce broadcasters into buying unsold tickets,” said David Goodfriend, chairman of the coalition. Goodfriend said the charge came from a senior professional sports executive who wishes to remain anonymous. The NFL had no comment. While the FCC doesn’t regulate the NFL, it regulates the owned-and-operated and affiliated stations of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, Goodfriend said Monday during a conference call with reporters to discuss the sports blackout rule. The FCC can “request that the licensees of those networks submit signed affidavits from C-level executives … on the record that respond to questions,” said Goodfriend, a lobbyist whos clients have included Dish Network. Initial comments in the FCC proceeding to eliminate the sports blackout rule were due Monday. Sports Fans Coalition and PK filed joint comments along with National Consumers League, League of Fans and Fan Freedom. The rule perpetuates a morally and economically corrupt system, Goodfriend said. The NFL and other sports leagues wishing to perpetuate the commission’s sports blackout rules bear the burden of proof that local blackouts are necessary “to maintain financial viability,” the filing said. The FCC should ask the NFL, at a minimum, to produce audited financial statements of the league and its member teams supporting the contention that local blackout policy serves the league’s financial interest, it said. The NFL threatened three of the four first-round playoff games with local blackouts in Green Bay, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, it said. “The degree of fan uncertainty, business disruption and community upheaval that the NFL’s action caused in these cities should eliminate any doubt that the federal regulations upholding the NFL’s local blackout policy do not serve the public interest and therefore, must go,” Goodfriend said. Opponents claimed that an elimination of the rules would hasten the migration of NFL games off of broadcast TV and on to pay-TV, he said. This is unlikely, he said. “As long as major advertisers like General Motors, Pepsi and Budweiser are willing to spend top dollar to reach the most households as possible and as long as the NFL games continue to be the most widely viewed programming on television, we think the league is likely to have a significant economic incentive to keep their games on broadcast.”
The FCC Media Bureau issued two protective orders (http://bit.ly/1budJb6 and http://bit.ly/1fnJsKG) in the docketed proceeding for Sinclair’s proposed buy of Allbritton’s TV stations. The public notices don’t indicate what information is being protected, but one notice pertains to “confidential” information while the other is for “highly confidential” information. Sinclair and the Media Bureau have been exchanging letters over sharing arrangements connected with the proposed deal (CD Dec 12 p5).
The FCC shouldn’t let Gannett’s reliance on previous Media Bureau acceptance of sharing agreements keep it from finding that the Gannett/Belo deal violates media ownership rules, said Free Press, Common Cause, the United Church of Christ Communications Office and other public interest groups in a reply to Gannett’s opposition to their application for review (http://bit.ly/1bpzDMN). “The full Commission has only heard one case regarding modern sharing agreements,” said the public interest filing. “The Opposing Parties’ reliance interests are extremely limited because staff decisions are not binding precedent on the Commission when the Commission has not reviewed the staff ruling.” The public interest groups also challenged Gannett’s arguments that the FCC must wait for a rulemaking proceeding to rule on the larger issue of sharing agreements. The commission can decide the status of shared service agreements (SSAs) and joint sales agreements (JSAs) in its adjudication of the Gannett/Belo deal, said the filing. “It is black letter law that the Commission may establish policy -- and has done so -- through adjudication,” said the groups. FCC officials have told us Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office is planning to circulate proposed rules for making JSAs attributable (CD Jan 30 p1). Public interest concerns also outweigh Gannett’s and Belo’s past reliance on sharing agreements, the groups said. “Serious public interest concerns regarding diversity accompany the Opposing Parties’ SSAs, and the importance of the public interest in the Commission’s regulation of media ownership indicates that these strong concerns outweigh the Opposing Parties’ weak reliance interests."
Broadcasters want an extension of the Feb. 28 deadline to reply to the Office of Engineering and Technology’s request for comments on its proposed method of recalculating interference between TV stations and wireless signals during the post-incentive auction repacking process, according to a filing from NAB, Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, Disney and other broadcasters (http://bit.ly/OfPljv). The requested extension would put comments due on March 31, the filing said. “Any potential changes in how inter-service interference may be calculated for the purposes of repacking should be carefully considered, and interested parties should have time to fully consider and analyze OET’s proposed methodology,’ said the filing. “The proposed methodology itself is quite complex, and analysis of the methodology and its potential ramifications is computationally intensive,” said the broadcasters. The requested extension would allow broadcasters to incorporate information from Friday’s LEARN workshop on the repacking into their comments, the filing said. “Allowing interested parties sufficient time to consider and analyze information presented during this workshop, and to incorporate that analysis into their comments, will only help ensure a more complete record in this proceeding."
Bonten Media Group of New York urged the FCC not to attribute for ownership quotas joint sales agreements (JSAs). Bonten launched new services made possible by the efficiencies generated by JSAs and shared services agreements, it said in an ex parte filing in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/Ofn1hl). “Attribution of JSAs involving more than 15 percent of a station’s advertising time -- as the commission reportedly has been considering -- effectively would require termination of these agreements, and their related efficiencies.” Bonten and Esteem Broadcasting, based in Virginia, have been creating new local news programs and upgrading stations to HD, Bonten said. These relationships have resulted in the hiring of reporters, more hours of local news, more in-depth coverage of issues important to the stations’ viewers, “and the ability for stations to reinvest in their programming, operations and infrastructure,” it said. The filing recounts a meeting with staff from the offices of Chairman Tom Wheeler and all the commissioners.