ACA Wants Adult Tier, Not Family Cable Package
American Cable Assn. (ACA) members want to offer an adult programming tier that would be separate from expanded basic service, said Pres. Matthew Polka. Smaller and rural cable operators that belong to ACA want to make expanded basic service, bought by most cable subscribers, “family friendly,” said Polka. The aim is to take racy programming out of that popular package and put it into a separate offering targeted at adults. ACA is awaiting FCC action on its petition to change retransmission consent rules, which could allow unbundling of broadcast stations from affiliated cable networks that carry objectionable programming, said Polka.
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Polka’s comments represent the latest ACA departure from the stance of large cable operators and the NCTA. In a Senate decency forum a month ago, Polka backed family friendly measures that reflected some of the desires of FCC Chmn. Martin. He has repeatedly supported cable a la carte, also backed by Martin. The chairman told the gathering that selling channels individually would reduce customers’ cable bills (CD Nov 30 p1). NCTA Pres. Kyle McSlarrow, appearing at the same hearing, said federal decency rules shouldn’t apply to cable. “We think there is middle ground on a la carte as it relates to the ability to tier services,” Polka told us Fri.
ACA’s efforts have been stymied by broadcasters and programmers, Polka said. TV stations and ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC won’t always separate carriage of local broadcast signals from that of affiliated networks, he said. “If we had the choice to do it, what we would do is take some of the objectionable programming…and put it on a separate tier,” said Polka. An adult tier could include Viacom’s MTV, Logo and Spike, Fox’s FX and Disney’s Soapnet, he said. Ideally, individual cable systems would determine tiering based on subscriber demographics. “The concept of a family tier to us is not really what we're looking at… Our view is different than perhaps what we've seen from Comcast and Time Warner.”
Comcast and TW have unveiled plans for similar family tiers, after pressure from Martin at the congressional forum. The 2 largest U.S. cable operators plan to sell such packages with basic service, offering networks including Disney Channel and The Weather Channel, for about $30 monthly. Comcast said its offering doesn’t violate programming contracts (CD Dec 23 p9). Four other cable operators have committed to starting a family tier, and Charter and Cox said they're considering it. Last week, Cable One became the latest operator to say it’s evaluating such a structure. “We are researching it and seeing if it’s something that is viable and something we can provide,” said a spokeswoman for Cable One, owned by Washington Post Co. “We don’t have a decision on that -- we are basically looking at all of the options.” Several other operators, including Insight and Mediacom, had no comment.
Changing retransmission consent rules would help meet ACA’s decency objectives. The group asked the FCC to nullify broadcast exclusivity when stations that forgo mandated carriage request additional compensation. “Consumers are harmed when broadcasters use exclusivity to extract supracompetitive ‘prices’ for retransmission consent from small cable operators,” said ACA’s March 2 petition. The Commission hasn’t acted on a related rulemaking, said Polka. “The matter is pending,” said a Media Bureau lawyer, declining to say more.
NAB has repeatedly said retransmission consent is competitive (CD March 3 p6). “We would oppose any change in the retransmission consent legislation,” said an NAB spokesman Fri. “Congress wisely recognized that local broadcasters bring tremendous value to cable companies.” The official wouldn’t discuss Polka’s remarks on an adult tier. NCTA declined to comment.
Polka promised to continue his push to change carriage negotiations. “We are pushing for a middle ground solution, and we're going to continue to do that in 2006 and beyond,” he said. “It’s going to be an ongoing battle.”