DOJ's Charter Statement Backs Case for Retrans Rule Status Quo, NAB Says
DOJ's competitive impact statement on Charter Communications' proposed buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable (see 1605110016) backs the broadcast industry's view that pay-TV consolidation is giving multichannel video programming distributors -- particularly the largest MVPDs -- sizable…
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negotiating power over programmers, NAB said in an FCC filing Thursday in docket 15-216. Pointing to that conclusion, NAB said the commission "should summarily reject" big MVPD claims about lacking bargaining leverage and needing changes in the rules governing good-faith bargaining. "It beggars belief that AT&T/DirecTV, Verizon, DISH, the combined Charter/TWC/Bright House and others -- entities with market capitalizations up to 200 times greater than some of the biggest local TV station groups -- need FCC assistance in negotiating their retransmission consent agreements," it said.