NCTA To Jump Into Retransmission Reform Fight

In a break for the pay TV companies lobbying for retransmission consent reform, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association announced that it is planning to put more of its weight behind the campaign.

“In particular, we welcome an examination of a retransmission consent regime that is increasingly fractured and in need of some repair,” said Michael Powell, NCTA’s president-CEO. Powell, a former FCC chairman, provided no details about the new reforms the NCTA intends to promote. But NCTA has previously urged the FCC to crack down on the ability of broadcasters to use sharing agreements to negotiate retransmission consent agreements for multiple stations in a market. One cable TV industry insider said the additional reforms under NCTA consideration are more in the form of “surgical changes than a wholesale restructuring of the rules.”