Sources: FCC Approves Program Carriage Standstill

The Federal Communications Commission has finally voted out its program carriage order, which provides for granting interim carriage during the adjudication of cable-network program-carriage complaints, or true-up payments for nets that have never been carried, and sets deadlines for dealing with those matters.

Such a mechanism currently does not exist, and it can take years for complaints to grind through the regulatory sausage-making process. The standstill provision is not retroactive and would not apply to the Tennis Channel and Bloomberg program carriage complaints, both against Comcast, even if they were not ruled on until after the rules took effect and either were decided in favor of the plaintiff. The order also better defines what type of complaints are, or are not, likely to have merit, and setting up shot clocks for FCC action.

FCC Democrats all supported the order, while Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell is expected to have dissented in part, the part being the standstill agreement portion.