By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-26-21
It may be a new, Democratic-led FCC, but broadcasters and cable operators are fighting the same retrans and media ownership battles.
On March 16, representatives of the American Television Alliance met with a top FCC staffer to argue that the current media ownership rules allow broadcasters to skirt limits and create triopolies and even quadropolies, loopholes they argued should be eliminated.
They argued that consolidation leads to higher retrans fees that are passed on to consumers, as well as reduced diversity of voices.
ATVA also took aim at the larger retransmission consent regime, saying that 20% annual fee increases and record numbers of retrans-related blackouts did not represent a functioning market. » Read More