NAB Fights Congressional Effort to Upend Retransmission Consent Process
Retransmission consent revenue is critical to local stations’ ability to invest in their news teams, investigative reporting and public service, but there is a new congressional effort to upend these free market negotiations all for the benefit of mega-companies such as $300 billion media giant AT&T. NAB is fiercely opposing newly introduced legislation that would undermine broadcasters ability to negotiate for retransmission consent.
Specifically, the “Modern Television Act,” introduced by Reps. Anna Eshoo (CA-18) and Steve Scalise (LA-1) seeks to:
- Phase out and eliminate (after 42 months) the retransmission consent regime and supporting rules (basic tier, exclusivity, etc.) that underpin the current broadcast carriage regime for cable and satellite providers, along with the corresponding compulsory copyright licenses for those retransmissions;
- For the next 42 months, impose a new interim carriage requirement during retransmission consent impasses, and extend the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) good faith negotiating rules with the explicit blessing that collective multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) buying groups are not a violation of good faith;
- Authorize the FCC to impose forced arbitration during a carriage impasse where both parties elect it, the impasse lasts more than 60 days, or in the case of a good faith violation; and
- Require an FCC study of programming costs and carriage impasses.
The bill currently was introduced with no other cosponsors. NAB’s advocacy team will continue to keep members updated on the progress of this legislation.