New Retransmission Attack Targets Multicasting

Broadcasters could be barred from affiliating with two or more of the Big 4 TV networks and multicasting the signals, under a new retransmission consent reform proposal being pitched by the pay-TV industry at the Federal Communications Commission.

In addition, the ability of broadcasters to negotiate retransmission consent rights for unaffiliated stations in separate markets could be constrained, under another retransmission reform proposal being promoted by pay-TV lobbyists during recent FCC visits. “Specifically, we asked the FCC to clarify that a broadcast station’s assignment of its right to negotiate retransmission consent to another broadcast station constitutes a ‘transfer of control’ that requires commission approval,” said representatives of Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, DirecTV, Dish Network and the American Cable Association, according to a Jan 30 lobbying disclosure filing on the FCC’s website. Under one of the new wrinkles in the retransmission reform campaign, the pay-TV companies are now urging the FCC to crack down on the ability of broadcasters to offer more than one Big 4 TV network-affiliated signals over their own channels by multicasting, according to the disclosure letter.