Kerry To Industry: Find Consumer-Friendlier Route To Retrans [Multichannel News]
During the Cablevision/Fox blackout, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) was one of the loudest voices calling for, at the very least, a “thoughtful dialogue” on reforming the current retransmission structure so that consumers are no longer in danger of being victimized by these negotiations.
On November 17 the Senate Communications Subcommittee, which is chaired by Senator Kerry, held a hearing, at which multiple industry representatives (including Cablevision’s Tom Rutledge, News Corp’s Chase Carey, Time Warner’s Glenn Britt, Univision’s Joe Uva, and Ovation’s Charles Segars) testified on the issue. Kerry continued to push for a compromise that would prevent retrans blackouts. He even stated that if thoughtful dialogue between broadcasters and cable providers did not ensue, government action would be proposed.
The theme of the senators' questions were that a free marketplace (without government action) was preferred, but this did not seem to be a truly free marketplace. Kerry cited the billions of dollars worth of spectrum that has been allocated by the government to the broadcasters at no cost to the broadcasters. Cablevision’s Rutledge spoke up at this point, saying that the spectrum was now being used “in a way that is abusing customers.”
Senator Kerry was not able to get many definitive answers when he asked about the actual prices being paid for programming. News Corp’s Carey would not reveal the price that Cablevision finally agreed to pay. Kerry said they would have to have more clarity on this issue before any new policy could even be considered.
Kerry admitted that he would love for the government to continue to have a role that was supervisory at best in retransmission negotiations. He would prefer that programmers and providers reach a compromise on their own. In fact, even though government action was considered, Kerry never suggested anything stronger than having the FCC act as mediator (something much weaker than binding arbitration).
Still, the dialogue continues and here’s to hoping some sort of compromise that will make these negotiations more reasonable and less likely to take programming away from consumers is ultimately reached.
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