FCC Should Exempt Small Cable From Set-top Rules, Says ACA
The FCC should set aside its set-top box plans or exempt smaller operators from the rules, said the American Cable Association and several ACA member cable carriers in a meeting with Media Bureau staff last week, according to an ex…
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parte filing in docket 97-80. The FCC should set aside consideration of changes to set-top box rules “and let the dynamic marketplace, which is providing consumers with increasing choices, continue to develop,” ACA said. If the FCC does make new rules for third-party boxes, it should exempt multichannel video programming distributors with 1 million or fewer subscribers, ACA said. “Consumer demand for these navigation devices will eventually drive ACA members to adopt the proposed open standards themselves when the economics may be more favorable,” ACA said. The ACA members also discussed retransmission consent negotiations, the filing said. The operators said they had been forced to negotiate for prospective programming channels -- “stations that are either unlaunched, unidentified, or after-acquired or managed” the filing said. Such negotiations create uncertainty for operators, the filing said. “Depending on the eventual identity of the channel, it may disrupt current channel line-ups,” ACA said. The operators said they had also felt “the ill effects” of being forced to acquiesce to after-acquired or subsequently managed station clauses as a condition of retrans deals with large station groups, the filing said. The FCC should rule that such practices are not “good faith” negotiations,” ACA said.