FCC, Cox Oppose Block Challenge of Ohio Market Modification Order
In appealing the FCC's granting market modification in Ohio, Block Communications hasn't shown it was hurt or that the agency didn't act reasonably in modifying the market for WHIO-TV Dayton, the FCC said in a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of…
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Appeals respondent brief Monday (docket 18-4137). Block's argument that it might have a tougher time negotiating cable carriage of its CBS affiliate in Auglaize County now that the county has been assigned to WHIO "is sheer speculation," the agency said, saying the station never had must-carry rights there and WHIO was the most-watched station there. WHIO owner Cox Communications, in an intervenor brief in the docket (in Pacer), said market modifications aren't intended to defend TV stations in a particular market against competition but to ensure cable viewers have access to local stations, and evidence clearly shows WHIO is local to those Auglaize County viewers. Block, in its petitioner brief last month, said the FCC did nothing more than "a superficial box-checking exercise" and paid little attention to the issue of localism in approving the market mod. It said WHIO was on Auglaize cable systems at the time of Cox's petition, and the modification order undermined Block's interests.