ACA Members Push RSN Conditions For AT&T/DirecTV

The American Cable Association is taking its call for regional sports network-related conditions on the AT&T/DirecTV deal directly to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. In a letter to Chairman Wheeler, 27 ACA members said they were "extremely concerned that following the completion of the AT&T and DirecTV merger, the combined company will charge us higher carriage fees for its Root Sports regional sports networks ('RSNs') than the two could charge remaining as separate entities." They said they don't mind competing head to head with other distributors, but that they are "put in a bind when purchasing 'must have' RSN programming from direct rivals like DirecTV and AT&T." They also said that bind would factor into whether they would have sufficient capital to invest in broadband. They said that without conditions including baseball style arbitration of carriage disputes and an improved version of the FCC's non-discriminatory access remedy, the deal should be rejected.

ACA has staked out the RSN issue as a key one in the FCCs' vetting. Earlier in the week it took aim at what it said appeared to be the FCC's plan not to apply any regional sports network conditions to the AT&T/DirecTV merger, which the FCC is widely expected to approve in the next week or so. “ACA is deeply disappointed that the Federal Communications Commission appears headed toward approving AT&T’s merger with DirecTV without shielding consumers from being overcharged for three Root Sports regional sports networks (RSNs) owned by DirecTV and a fourth Roots Sports RSN currently co-owned by AT&T and DirecTV," said ACA president Matthew Polka in a statement July 7. In the letter, the cable operators, all of whom said they purchase RSNs from DirecTV/AT&T, echoed that concern.