FCC Will Not Set New Rules On Negotiations Between Broadcasters And Pay-TV Providers

The Federal Communications Commission’s Chairman, Tom Wheeler, recently said in a press release that new rules would not be proposed on negotiations between pay-TV providers and broadcasters over rights for retransmission. The increased number of disputes in the recent years has led to many blackouts of channels on satellite TV networks. FCC is currently trying to end the dispute between Tribune Media and Dish Network, which led to a removal of 42 Tribune channels from the Dish Network channel guide.

Wheeler posted in a blog saying that “it is clear that more rules in this area are not what we need at this point.” He added that there is no need for “more rules, but for both sides in retransmission consent negotiations to take seriously their responsibility to consumers, who expect to watch their preferred broadcast programming without interruption and to receive the subscription TV service for which they pay.”

The attempt to revise the “totality of the circumstances test,” to find out whether satellite and cable operators and station owners are negotiating in good faith even in situations when stations blackout, was supported by the satellite and cable companies. However, FCC Chairman says that “there is nothing in the record that suggests that our current totality of the circumstances test, which is intentionally broad, is inadequate to address the negotiating practices of broadcast stations or [pay TV distributors] in the marketplace today.”

“Though commenters complained about a variety of negotiating practices, none showed that those practices are the causes of the blackouts that occur. Further, a number of the practices complained of were said to have been engaged in by a single negotiating party or in a small number of negotiations and do not appear to be gaining currency in the marketplace,” Wheeler added. He further said that FCC is “prepared to use the authority Congress has conferred on the Commission to help to bring negotiations to a conclusion.”

The National Association of Broadcasters is in agreement with what Wheeler said in his statement. “As Chairman Wheeler acknowledges, the vast majority of these negotiations are successfully concluded without incident or impasse. Broadcasters remain fully committed to reaching agreements with pay TV companies in good faith,” said Dennis Wharton, NAB Executive Vice President for Media Relations.

However, President of American Cable Association, Matthew Polka, said that they are shocked by the statement that “ignores the plight of millions of consumers served by (pay TV providers) who have repeatedly been victimized by broadcasters’ heavy-handed bargaining tactics.”