NAB: FCC Should Condition AT&T/DirecTV on TV Carriage

The National Association of Broadcasters is telling the Federal Communications Commission that if it decides to approve the AT&T/DirecTV merger, it should consider putting in a condition requiring DirecTV to offer local TV stations in all 210 markets.

Unlike cable operators, satellite operators do not have to provide TV stations wherever they provide service, though if they provide one, they must provide all. NAB does not take a position on whether or not the deal should be approved -- though it clearly has issues, particularly when the FCC has not loosened broadcast ownership restrictions. "Allowing unfettered consolidation among MVPDs while broadcasters continue to operate under decades-old rules would be arbitrary and capricious," it said. But in its comments to the FCC, NAB points out that DirecTV does not deliver local TV station signals to 13 TV markets and sees the deal as a way to rectify that.