Broadcasters File Retrans Complaint Against DirecTV

A group of broadcasters have filed an emergency petition with the Federal Communications Commission charging DirecTV with failure to negotiate retransmission consent in good faith and wants the FCC to compel DirecTV to back up its price claim. The complaint was filed by Northwest Broadcasting, Broadcasting Licenses, Mountain Licenses, Stainless Broadcasting, Eagle Creek Broadcasting of Laredo, Bristlecone Broadcasting, and Blackhawk Broadcasting, saying they had come to an impasse over "unbridgeable" and apparently unbudgeable, "positions on price."

The station groups say they have market data to support their price claims which it has shown to DirecTV, while DirecTV has refused to show them its "facts" for the price it is asking. The groups point out that the FCC can, if it chooses, compel "reciprocal fact disclosure" if it finds DirecTV was not negotiating in good faith, or "stonewalling," as the groups argue. They say it is an emergency because they have been negotiating new retrans deals since fall 2014, and that their expired contracts are on "life support" through multiple short-term extensions.