Local Choice Retrans: Look Before You Leap

[Commentary] Does the “Local Choice” retransmission reform proposed by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-VA,) and ranking minority member Sen John Thune (R-SD) sound like a “win-win”? I’m not so sure.

Let’s look at it from several perspectives:

For consumers: The reduction in multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) rates, even if one occurs, will probably not be significant for most consumers, and the price they will pay is losing access to the programs they most watch.

For MVPDs and Cable Program Suppliers: The Local Choice plan would require that broadcasters set one price for all MVPDs. It would prevent broadcasters from exempting those very small operators, and require those systems to develop more complicated billing and collection systems.

For Broadcasters: While there might be some benefits to stations from the Local Choice proposal -- setting their own retransmission rates, eliminating the growth of new cable programming channels if à la carte spreads to non-broadcast channels -- there could be costs as well. The Local Choice plan does not seem to contemplate any negotiation between broadcast stations and MVPDs.

For Policymakers: If a subscriber chooses not to take local stations, that subscriber may not receive crucial emergency information, or local news, or information about local elections from both news programming and ads placed by candidates.

[Goodman practices communications law in Washington]