NAB's Smith Compares Tech Companies to 'Robber Barons,' Seeks Congressional Action
Digital companies such as Apple and Facebook have grown so large they're comparable to “robber barons” and “corporate nation-states,” said NAB CEO Gordon Smith on an episode of C-Span’s The Communicators, set for telecast Saturday. “There comes a time where a private interest gets so large it has a public impact,” said Smith. “It is time to put some guard rails on.” The former Republican senator said he agreed with Democratic Party presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that “this is something Congress should seriously look at.”
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Digital companies expanding into media are competing with broadcasters for ad dollars and threatening local news, Smith said. He repeatedly referenced President Teddy Roosevelt’s actions to break up monopolies, and said the time may have come to do the same to tech companies. “Treat us fairly or deal with them the way you deal with us,” Smith said.
MVPDs and satellite carriers sometimes “manufacture service disruptions” when they know Congress is paying special attention to retrans issues, Smith said. The government shouldn’t get involved in retransmission negotiations, he said. Lawmakers should respect that the contentious negotiations are an aspect of “a market in flux” and should allow it work itself out, he said. Smith also compared retrans negotiations to a private labor dispute. AT&T is taking advantage of antiquated rules to avoid dealing with local broadcasters in markets such as Bowling Green, Kentucky, where direct broadcast satellite providers pipe in distant stations rather than local ones, Smith said. Allowing AT&T to continue doing so is tantamount to a government subsidy, he said.
Smith repeated NAB’s stance of not backing a specific plan for C-band spectrum. Any plan should protect broadcasters and not rely on fiber as a replacement, he said.
NAB and Microsoft have come to “a good place” on TV white spaces, Smith said. Broadcasters are concerned about interference from Microsoft’s use of the spectrum but broadcasters are in discussions with the computer company on ways to avoid that, he said.
Congress is unlikely to be able to rewrite the Communications Act anytime soon, Smith said. Net neutrality is a major sticking point, and the sides don’t appear to be getting any closer to finding common ground, he said.