Calls for conditions on News Corp./DirecTV
By Bill McConnell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/18/2003 4:00:00 AM
News Corp.'s competitors and critics are full of ideas for conditions they say should accompany the government's approval of the company's bid to control DirecTV Inc. -- those that don't want to block the deal outright.
The National Association of Broadcasters is urging the Federal Communications Commission to prohibit News Corp. from transmitting its Fox network feed over DirecTV in any market already served by a Fox affiliate, to insist that News Corp.'s pledge not to favor Fox pay TV programming on DirecTV or withhold it from competing cable operators be duplicated for broadcast programming and to require DirecTV to carry local broadcast channels in all 210 markets by Jan. 1, 2006.
The NAB said the conditions are necessary because News Corp. will have a "strong economic incentive" to bypass local Fox broadcasting affiliates and replace them with a national Fox programming feed for all DirecTV subscribers.
The NAB's suggestions were included in comments on the merger submitted to the FCC Monday.
Some cable operators want demands placed on News Corp., too. Advance/Newhouse COmmunications, Cox Communications Inc., Insight Communications Co. Inc. and Cable One Inc. urged the FCC to impose conditions that would prevent News Corp. from using its leverage over local systems to demand higher prices for Fox programming.
The cable companies have not spelled out conditions they think would suffice, but they said demand for Fox programming is great enough that operators will be powerless to reject News Corp.'s demands because the immediate loss of license fees from systems that refuse to carry Fox programming will be more than offset by boosts in DirecTV membership by subscribers who cancel their cable connections and switch to the satellite carrier.
Public broadcasters asked the FCC to clarify that no local stations can be carried on the DBS operator's so-called wing satellite that can be only received via a second dish.
The second wish of the Association of Public Television Stations was to seek a commission declaration that DirecTV is obligated to carry digital broadcasters' entire multicast lineup.
The Center for Digital Democracy and the American Cable Association called for the deal to be blocked on grounds that the company's combined holdings of broadcast and pay TV distribution, coupled with its popular programming networks, will have unprecedented power to dictate expensive terms to local operators and subscribers.
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