ACA Asks FCC to End Retransmission 'Price Fixing'

In what it calls an effort to “inject free-market competition into retransmission consent,” the American Cable Association is urging the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules that would ban separately owned broadcasters from bargaining “as a collusive unit within the same market and outlaw broadcast networks and TV stations from interfering with cable operators’ rights to carry distant network signals that customers have historically received and valued.” In comments filed with the FCC claiming an urgent need for retransmission consent reform, ACA requested agency action this year in time for new rules to apply to thousands of retrans agreements set to expire on Dec. 31.