FCC's Rosenworcel: Viewers Should Get Refunds For Long Retransmission Blackouts

Federal Communications Commission member Jessica Rosenworcel suggests that viewers who lose channels due to extended retransmission blackouts should get refunds, and that the FCC should use its authority to require good faith negotiations to do something about those extended blackouts.

Referencing the recent CBS blackout on Time Warner Cable systems Commissioner Rosenworcel said, “That's not a good thing by any measure. We shouldn't want that to happen for extended periods of time. I think the consumers, honestly, are deserved a refund if that happens for a long period of time, and I think that if it happens for an extended period of time, the FCC should look at its good faith authority under the Communications Act and help do something about it." She did not specify what that might be. The FCC has authority to mandate good faith bargaining, but according to FCC lawyers' reading of that authority, it requires one of the parties to file a formal complaint alleging breach of good faith. Neither CBS nor TWC filed such a complaint, for example.

Commissioner Rosenworcel suggested that rather than happening more frequently, the impasses were getting more attention because they were getting more heated and complicated in part because of the introduction of online rights to the equation. CBS chief Les Moonves has said those online rights were a key issue -- and sticking point -- in the negotiations.