Fox/Cablevision And FCC Learned Helplessness

[Commentary] Under the Federal Communications Commission's current rules, there's little the agency can do to solve the Fox-Cablevision retransmission consent impasse. But the FCC actually has fairly strong statutory authority to take action. So while FCC Chairman Genachowski is in a bind, he can actually fix the problem.

He even has a vehicle all teed up and waiting in the form of a petition to change the retransmission consent rules. So how on Earth did the FCC get reduced from the consumer protection "cop on the beat" to pathetically tweeting the playoffs? The answer lies with over 15 years of deliberately learned helplessness and rulemaking that Feld can only charitably describe as auto-castration. Twice, in 1992 and 1999, Congress explicitly directed the FCC to make sure that broadcasters don't abuse the retransmission consent negotiation process -- the process Congress created that gives broadcasters the right to withhold their broadcast signal from subscription television providers unless they get paid off. Each time, the FCC went out of its way to develop rules that systemically divested itself of all capability to act.

So my advice to Chairman Genachowski, if he is serious about wanting to get Fox television channels back on Cablevision and about protecting television viewers generally, is that he seize this opportunity and move on the petition. Even if the FCC doesn't adopt a rule, it will begin a very necessary discussion about how to adapt a system developed in 1993 to the realities of 2010.