Joe Flint

The broadcasting industry's top lobbyist said the Federal Communications Commission needs to work closer with the industry rather than trying to undermine it through regulatory measures that favor would-be competitors.

"Over the past five years, there has been an increasingly singular focus by the federal government on broadband," said National Assn. of Broadcasters President and Chief Executive Gordon Smith in a speech at the association's annual convention in Las Vegas. Smith added that meanwhile the agency continues to "regulate broadcasters as if the world is stuck in the 1970s."

While broadcasters would get a piece of the proceeds from such auctions, many in the industry are reluctant to participate. Said Smith: "On the one hand, government can treat us as if we are dinosaurs and does what it can to encourage TV stations to go out of business. On the other hand, the FCC says we are so important and powerful that two TV stations can't share advertising in the same market, while it's OK for multiple cable, satellite and telecommunications operators to do so."

That new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is a former head of both the cable and wireless industry lobbying groups also has many broadcasters concerned that they are second-class citizens in his eyes. Univision Chairman Haim Saban cracked that the FCC stands for "Friendly Cable Commission," during an interview at the convention. The FCC, Smith said, needs a "national broadcast plan" along with its National Broadband Plan.

Los Angeles Dodgers fans are caught in a rundown. On one side are the Dodgers and Time Warner Cable, which is handling distribution of SportsNet LA. On the other side are area pay-TV distributors, which are balking at the price for carrying the channel.

"I'm angry with the Dodgers management," said Magnuson, a customer of Verizon FiOS. "There are so many fans that won't get to see them anymore."

This disagreement amounts to a virtual shutout. Besides FiOS, other area pay-TV providers that are not carrying SportsNet LA include satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish Network, cable companies Cox and Charter and AT&T's U-Verse. The only operators carrying SportsNet Los Angeles are Time Warner Cable and Bakersfield's Bright House Networks, which has ties to Time Warner Cable.

Walt Disney and satellite TV provider Dish Network's sweeping new agreement could lead to changes in the way consumers watch television.

The comprehensive distribution deal is expected to become a blueprint on how the television industry treats the increasingly important digital rights for valuable programming. Wireless television service would create a new business opportunity for Dish, which provides service to 14 million customers. The planned service would be designed to appeal to the so-called never-connected generation of young people, who consume much of their entertainment via computers and tablets, and thus have been difficult recruits for traditional cable and satellite TV providers.

"It would hit a market that they want to reach -- single people, young couples -- those who don't otherwise subscribe to pay TV," said Michael Nathanson of the Moffett-Nathanson research firm. If and when it arrives, Dish's Internet service might look a lot like what Dish offers now — a set package of channels -- and not the "a la carte" service that some consumer activists have been demanding from the industry.

Two of the nation's preeminent legal experts on copyright law are siding with broadcasters in their legal fight against Aereo, a start-up service that transmits local television signals via the Internet.

In a brief filed at the Supreme Court, UCLA School of Law professor David Nimmer and Peter Menell, a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law, warned that if Aereo were found to be legal it could "decimate multiple industries." The broadcasters are hoping that the high court will overturn the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruling that found Aereo's transmissions and recordings are not "public performances" of copyrighted material.

The new distribution contract CBS signed with Time Warner Cable last summer after a bitter fight could be a casualty of Comcast's proposed acquisition of TWC.

According to people familiar with the deal, it does not include provisions protecting all the terms of the pact should Time Warner Cable be acquired by a distributor with a sweeter arrangement. These people requested anonymity because the agreement is confidential. Terms of the CBS-Time Warner Cable pact were never publicly disclosed, but Comcast, which signed a 10-year distribution agreement with CBS in 2010, is believed to be paying a lower fee to carry the network's TV stations. Should Comcast get regulatory approval of the Time Warner Cable purchase, it can carry CBS under its current deal.