NAB: FCC Should Deny Quiet-Period Request
Trade group comes out against extended retransmission-consent 'quiet period' surrounding DTV transition in February.
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/10/2008 7:12:00 AM
The National Association of Broadcasters came out against an extended retransmission-consent “quiet period” surrounding the digital-TV transition Feb. 17. 2009.
In a meeting with a Federal Communications Commission staffer Sept. 5, according to a letter outlining the discussion, representatives of the NAB said that while they supported a Feb. 4-March 4 quiet period, during which broadcasters would agree not to remove their signals from cable systems, they opposed a petition by Mediacom Communications, Charter Communications and other cable operators for a longer quiet period extending from December 2008, when a number of contracts expire, through the end of May 2009.
The NAB told the commission 75% of commercial TV stations support the month-long quiet period, but that for the FCC to force a longer period on broadcasters is “regulatory interference” that “was never contemplated by Congress.”
The NAB argued that there was “no chance” that consumers would confuse a retransmission-consent dispute that began in December or January with some kind of equipment failure or other snafu connected to the DTV transition in mid-February.”
It also noted that “many major broadcast events” will occur in early 2009 -- think National Football League playoffs and Super Bowl -- and that a quiet period longer than one month would “shift significant negotiating leverage away from broadcasters to MVPDs [multichannel-video providers],” and without a resulting benefit to the public that could justify such a government thumb on the scale.
The NAB said it was prompted to contact the FCC after reports that the commission was considering acting on the petition without releasing a public notice seeking comment, which would be surprising given the criticism leveled at it last year over the public notice, or lack of it, for its proposals and decisions.
