Echostar To Push for Baseball-Style Arbitration for Fox Retrans Deals

ECHOSTAR TO PUSH FOR BASEBALL-STYLE ARBITRATION FOR FOX RETRANS DEALS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Look for Echostar, joined by consumer groups, to push the FCC to retain baseball-style arbitration for Fox broadcasting retransmission-consent deals. When News Corp. bought DirecTV in 2004, one of the conditions on the deal was that negotiations for broadcast carriage between Fox Broadcasting stations and satellite competitor EchoStar be subject to baseball-style arbitration if an impasse occurred, during which stations could not go dark on the satellite service. Baseball-style arbitration is when both sides make their best offer and the arbitrator has to pick one or the other. The condition was in place so that Fox couldn't advantage co-owned DirecTV by refusing to deal with its satellite competitor.
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