NAB Defends Joint Retransmission Negotiations

The National Association of Broadcasters is firing back at claims by the American Cable Association that broadcasters collectively negotiating retransmission consent in a market is consumer unfriendly.

While the FCC's two-year-old retransmission proposals are unlikely to be acted on anytime soon, the FCC has raised the issue of joint station agreements -- which often include joint retransmission negotiations -- in other proceedings, including its media ownership and program access rulemakings. ACA has long argued that the joint agreements are a way for broadcasters to skirt local ownership caps and give them undue market power in carriage agreements that wind up translating to higher cable bills for their customers. In a filing in the retransmission docket at the FCC, NAB said it was countering "erroneous contentions" by cable TV interests in recent submissions, then goes on to cite several ACA filings. NAB asserts that cable operators are misleading the commission about the impact of retrans and with claims of improper broadcast bargaining, are abusing their market power and are the ones hurting the public.