Retransmission Reform Heats Up in Washington

A group of ABC affiliates converged on Capitol Hill late in November 2013, pleading with lawmakers to jam a stick into the spokes of an accelerating campaign by the pay TV industry to gut broadcast retransmission consent rights. The prayers of the broadcasters appeared to be quickly answered, with the announcement that a key federal lawmaker would block the pay TV industry’s effort to win a quick legislative fix. But the concern now is that that pay TV industry is shifting lobbying muscle to the Federal Communications Commission, where there appears to be significant pockets of sympathy for the reform effort.