ACA: Program Carriage Rules Should Not Be Expanded to Include Smaller Ops

The American Cable Association has asked the Federal Communications Commission to continue to exclude the majority of its members from program carriage rules, arguing that the rules were specifically targeted by Congress to operators with the incentive to protect their co-owned cable nets.

ACA, which represents small and mid-sized operators, made that pitch in comments at the FCC on its proposal to make those rules even stronger by instituting shot clocks, standstills and more. ACA was specifically responding to the FCC's question of whether the rules should be extended to cover all operators, not just the vertically integrated operators affiliated with programmers who are currently covered by the rules.