Free antennas? Not good enough: the FCC should put a stop to TV blackouts

[Commentary] Giving frustrated subscribers free antennas at BestBuy is not enough. As the CBS blackout goes into its fourth week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will have to realize that Band-Aid solutions won’t work: instead, the FCC should force CBS and Time Warner to negotiate.

Doing so would not only let the good folks of New York, Dallas and Los Angeles get their “Under the Dome” and “60 Minutes” fix. It would also send a message to the TV industry to shop these blackout shenanigans which, in recent years, have become more and more common. It’s not unreasonable, then, for government regulators to step into the private market, in this case. The FCC needs to step up, intervene and fix a regulated model that is clearly broken: the breakdown is evident not only in the growing number of blackouts, but in a system that force feeds customers unwanted bundles of channels at ever-higher prices. The head of the FCC told CBS and Time Warner Cable that she would “consider appropriate action” if they didn’t end a fee dispute that has caused the popular channel to vanish from 3 million households. The FCC still possesses vast regulatory power and it’s the one that makes the rules for how cable companies and broadcasters negotiate in the first place.